Project description:Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has become one of the greatest threats to public health, characterized by renal fibrosis. However, no treatment targeting renal fibrosis is available so far. Several natural diterpene compounds exhibit extraordinary inhibitory effects on TGF-β1-induced renal fibroblast activation and renal fibrosis in UUO mouse model. RNA-sequencing reveals the signaling pathways affected by these compounds. The direct target of the compounds are explored via quantitative mass spectrometry. Besides, the efficacies of the compounds are compared with pirfenidone, an FDA-approved drug for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which is under clinical trials for treating CKD patients. Moreover, these compounds exhibit more potent anti-fibrotic activities than conventional CKD medications such as valsartan and enalapril. Taken together, our study discovered that these diterpeniods alleviate kidney fibrosis by blocking the pro-fibrotic signaling pathway, which has great potential for the treatment of CKD.
Project description:We try to investigate the mechanism of kidney fibrosis from data-driven way using multi-omic data, to explore hub gene and key molecules of key interaction network.
Project description:Cardiac fibrosis is the final common pathology in heart disease. Here we establish an integrated imaging-genomic discovery platform using primary human heart fibroblasts to identify new drug targets for cardiac fibrosis. Genome wide analyses identify IL11, a secreted cytokine amenable to therapeutic inhibition, as the leading pro-fibrotic candidate. We demonstrate an autocrine loop of IL11 activity that is critical for fibrosis and acts as a nexus of signalling convergence for multiple pro-fibrotic stimuli. IL11 signals in cis and trans via the ERK cascade to activate a programme of fibrosis primarily at the level of protein translation. Injection of IL11 to mice causes fibrosis of the heart, kidney, lung, skin and liver whereas genetic ablation of the IL11 receptor prevented fibrosis across tissues. These data define a new non-canonical fibrogenic pathway and prioritise IL11 as a novel therapeutic target for fibrosis of the heart and other organs
Project description:Cardiac fibrosis is the final common pathology in heart disease. Here we establish an integrated imaging-genomic discovery platform using primary human heart fibroblasts to identify new drug targets for cardiac fibrosis. Genome wide analyses identify IL11, a secreted cytokine amenable to therapeutic inhibition, as the leading pro-fibrotic candidate. We demonstrate an autocrine loop of IL11 activity that is critical for fibrosis and acts as a nexus of signalling convergence for multiple pro-fibrotic stimuli. IL11 signals in cis and trans via the ERK cascade to activate a programme of fibrosis primarily at the level of protein translation. Injection of IL11 to mice causes fibrosis of the heart, kidney, lung, skin and liver whereas genetic ablation of the IL11 receptor prevented fibrosis across tissues. These data define a new non-canonical fibrogenic pathway and prioritise IL11 as a novel therapeutic target for fibrosis of the heart and other organs
Project description:Kidney fibrosis is the hallmark of chronic kidney disease progression, however currently no antifibrotic therapies exist. This is largely because the origin, functional heterogeneity and regulation of scar-forming cells during human kidney fibrosis remains poorly understood. Here, using single cell RNA-seq, we profiled the transcriptomes of proximal tubule and non-proximal tubule cells in healthy and fibrotic human kidneys to map the entire human kidney in an unbiased approach. This enabled mapping of all matrix-producing cells at high resolution, revealing distinct subpopulations of pericytes and fibroblasts as the major cellular sources of scar forming myofibroblasts during human kidney fibrosis. We used genetic fate-tracing, time-course single cell RNA-seq and ATAC-seq experiments in mice, and spatial transcriptomics in human kidney fibrosis to functionally interrogate these findings, shedding new light on the origin, heterogeneity and differentiation of human kidney myofibroblasts and their fibroblast and pericyte precursors at unprecedented resolution. Finally, we used this strategy to facilitate target discovery, identifying Nkd2 as a myofibroblast-specific target in human kidney fibrosis.
Project description:Kidney fibrosis is the hallmark of chronic kidney disease progression, however currently no antifibrotic therapies exist. This is largely because the origin, functional heterogeneity and regulation of scar-forming cells during human kidney fibrosis remains poorly understood. Here, using single cell RNA-seq, we profiled the transcriptomes of proximal tubule and non-proximal tubule cells in healthy and fibrotic human kidneys to map the entire human kidney in an unbiased approach. This enabled mapping of all matrix-producing cells at high resolution, revealing distinct subpopulations of pericytes and fibroblasts as the major cellular sources of scar forming myofibroblasts during human kidney fibrosis. We used genetic fate-tracing, time-course single cell RNA-seq and ATAC-seq experiments in mice, and spatial transcriptomics in human kidney fibrosis to functionally interrogate these findings, shedding new light on the origin, heterogeneity and differentiation of human kidney myofibroblasts and their fibroblast and pericyte precursors at unprecedented resolution. Finally, we used this strategy to facilitate target discovery, identifying Nkd2 as a myofibroblast-specific target in human kidney fibrosis.
Project description:Cardiac fibrosis is the final common pathology in heart disease. Here we establish an integrated imaging-genomic discovery platform using primary human heart fibroblasts to identify new drug targets for cardiac fibrosis. Genome wide analyses identify IL11, a secreted cytokine amenable to therapeutic inhibition, as the leading pro-fibrotic candidate. We demonstrate an autocrine loop of IL11 activity that is critical for fibrosis and acts as a nexus of signalling convergence for multiple pro-fibrotic stimuli. IL11 signals in cis and trans via the ERK cascade to activate a programme of fibrosis primarily at the level of protein translation. Injection of IL11 to mice causes fibrosis of the heart, kidney, lung, skin and liver whereas genetic ablation of the IL11 receptor prevented fibrosis across tissues. These data define a new non-canonical fibrogenic pathway and prioritise IL11 as a novel therapeutic target for fibrosis of the heart and other organs
Project description:Fibroblasts play an important role in fibrosis, chronic inflammatory diseases (CIDs) and cancer. Targeting their pathogenicity is crucial, considering the limitations and side effects of existing biologic therapies that focus on inflammatory mediators (TNFα/IL-6). Herein, a multidisciplinary approach utilizing activated primary fibroblasts (PFs) and macrophages (MFs), which are key regulators in inflammation and fibrosis, is presented. The research encompasses medicinal chemistry, molecular phenotyping, mechanism of action studies, RNA-sequencing analysis and ADMET/PK/in vivo evaluation. A novel anti-inflammatory pharmacophore acting through Hypoxia up-regulated protein 1 (Hyou1) was discovered, thus emerging the potential of Hyou1 down-regulation/inhibition in fibroblast-related disorders. The study highlights the need for further investigation into the effects of Hyou1 activity on fibroblasts while providing the first reported Hyou1 small molecule inhibitor leads for drug discovery.