Project description:Pentraxin-2 (PTX-2) is a constitutive, anti-inflammatory, innate immune plasma protein whose circulating level is decreased in chronic human fibrotic diseases. Recent studies indicate that systemic delivery of recombinant PTX-2 inhibits inflammatory diseases associated with fibrosis by blocking pro-fibrotic macrophage activation and promoting anti-inflammatory and regulatory macrophages. Here we show that recombinant human PTX-2 (rhPTX-2) retards the progression of chronic kidney disease in Col4a3 mutant mice that develop Alport syndrome, reducing blood markers of kidney failure, enhancing lifespan by 20%, and improving histological signs of disease. Exogenously-delivered rhPTX-2 is detected in macrophages but is also found in tubular epithelial cells where it counteracts macrophage activation and is cytoprotective for the epithelium. We performed transcriptional profiling of whole kidney homogenates and human proximal tubule epithelial cells (PTECs) to identify pathways differentially activated or suppressed in response to treatment with PTX-2. Computational analysis of genes regulated by rhPTX-2 identified the transcriptional regulator c-Jun and its binding partners, which form AP-1 complexes, as a central target for the function of rhPTX-2. Accordingly, PTX-2 attenuates c-Jun activation and reduces expression of AP-1 dependent inflammatory genes in both monocytes and epithelium. Our studies therefore identify rhPTX-2 as a potential therapy for chronic fibrotic disease of the kidney and an important inhibitor of pathological c-Jun signaling in this setting. 1. Total RNA from whole kidney homogenates of wildtype (Col4a3+/+) and knockout (Col4a3-/-) mice treated with PTX-2 was isolated and hybidized to Illumina Mouse WG-6 v2 Expression BeadChips. 2. Total RNA from human proximal tubules treated with plasma and PTX-2 was isolated and hybidized to Illumina HumanHT-12 v4 Expression BeadChips.
Project description:Pentraxin-2 (PTX-2) is a constitutive, anti-inflammatory, innate immune plasma protein whose circulating level is decreased in chronic human fibrotic diseases. Recent studies indicate that systemic delivery of recombinant PTX-2 inhibits inflammatory diseases associated with fibrosis by blocking pro-fibrotic macrophage activation and promoting anti-inflammatory and regulatory macrophages. Here we show that recombinant human PTX-2 (rhPTX-2) retards the progression of chronic kidney disease in Col4a3 mutant mice that develop Alport syndrome, reducing blood markers of kidney failure, enhancing lifespan by 20%, and improving histological signs of disease. Exogenously-delivered rhPTX-2 is detected in macrophages but is also found in tubular epithelial cells where it counteracts macrophage activation and is cytoprotective for the epithelium. We performed transcriptional profiling of whole kidney homogenates and human proximal tubule epithelial cells (PTECs) to identify pathways differentially activated or suppressed in response to treatment with PTX-2. Computational analysis of genes regulated by rhPTX-2 identified the transcriptional regulator c-Jun and its binding partners, which form AP-1 complexes, as a central target for the function of rhPTX-2. Accordingly, PTX-2 attenuates c-Jun activation and reduces expression of AP-1 dependent inflammatory genes in both monocytes and epithelium. Our studies therefore identify rhPTX-2 as a potential therapy for chronic fibrotic disease of the kidney and an important inhibitor of pathological c-Jun signaling in this setting.
Project description:Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) is a genetic disease of the kidney characterized by the gradual replacement of normal kidney parenchyma by fluid-filled cysts and fibrotic tissue. Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) is caused by mutations in the PKD1 or PKD2 gene. Here we present an RNASeq experiment designed to investigate the effect of a kidney specific and Tamoxifen inducible knockout of the Pkd1 gene in mice. The Pkd1cko mice were harvested at different time points 2-weeks, 3-weeks, 5-weeks, 10.5-weeks, 11-weeks and 15-weeks after gene inactivation.
Project description:Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) is a genetic disease of the kidney characterized by the gradual replacement of normal kidney parenchyma by fluid-filled cysts and fibrotic tissue. Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) is caused by mutations in the PKD1 or PKD2 gene. Here we present an RNASeq experiment designed to investigate the effect of a kidney specific and Tamoxifen inducible knockout of the Pkd1 gene in mice. 7 mice were grouped into two groups, 4 Tamoxifen treated mice which develop an adult onset Polycystic Kidney Disease phenotype and 3 untreated mice which have WT phenotype.
Project description:Kidneys possess come one of the most intricate three-dimensional cellular structures in the body, yet the spatial molecular principles of kidney health and disease remain inadequately understood. Here we generated high-quality single cell (sc), single nuclear (sn), spatial (sp) RNA expression and sn open chromatin datasets for 79 samples, capturing half a million cells from healthy, diabetic, and hypertensive diseased human kidneys. By combining the sn/sc and sp RNA data, we identify over 100 cell types and states and successfully map them back to their spatial locations. Computational deconvolution of spRNA-seq helps to identifies glomerular, tubular, immune, and fibrotic spatial microenvironments (FMEs). Although injured proximal tubule cells appear to be the nidus of fibrosis, we reveal the complex, heterogenous cellular and spatial organization of human FMEs, including the highly intricate and organized immune environment. We demonstrate the clinical utility of the FME spatial gene signature for the classification of a large number of human kidneys for disease severity and prognosis. We provide a comprehensive spatially-resolved molecular roadmap for the human kidney and the fibrotic process and demonstrate the clinical utility of spatial transcriptomics.
Project description:Uromodulin (UMOD) is a secreted glycoprotein exclusively expressed by the cells lining the thick ascending limb of the loop of henle and the early distal tubule of the kidney nephron. Mutations in UMOD that interfere with proper folding of the protein are responsible for a progressive form of interstitial fibrotic kidney disease that leads to end stage renal disease, referred to as Uromodulin Associated Kidney Disease (UAKD). To assess key transcriptional changes associated with the progression of UAKD, we generated a knock-in mouse model harboring the mouse equivalent of the human mutation C148W. We profiled both the whole kidney tissue, as well as the specific UMOD+ cell populaitons in mutant and wild type mice. Analysis of differentially expressed genes in whole tissue and UMOD+ cells revealed a strong TNF-signaling signature, as well as TRIB3 upregulation, which is a key mediator of the intrinsic ER-stress mediated cell death pathway.
Project description:Spatially resolved human kidney multi-omics single cell atlas highlights the key role of fibrotic microenvironment in kidney disease progression.