Tripterygium glycoside suppresses epithelial‑to‑mesenchymal transition of diabetic kidney disease podocytes by targeting autophagy through the mTOR/Twist1 pathway.

Tripterygium glycoside (TG) is a traditional Chinese medicine extract with immunosuppressive, anti‑inflammatory and anti‑renal fibrosis effects. Epithelial‑mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cell apoptosis are considered to be the major cause of podocyte injury in diabetic kidney disease (DKD). However, it remains unknown as to whether TG is able to alleviate podocyte injury to prevent DKD progression.

The association between time-mean serum uric acid levels and the incidence of chronic kidney disease in the general population: a retrospective study.

Background: Investigations on the role of the time-mean serum uric acid (SUA) value in determining the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) are limited. We investigated whether the time-mean SUA value indicates the risk of CKD, and explored associations of the baseline and time-mean SUA levels with kidney function decline and incident CKD in a healthy population.

Methods: We initiated an inhabitant-based cohort study between January 2011 and December 2016.

Rapamycin Reduces Podocyte Apoptosis and is Involved in Autophagy and mTOR/ P70S6K/4EBP1 Signaling.

Background/aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of rapamycin (RAP) on autophagy in podocytes and the therapeutic effects of RAP on idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN).

Methods: We established an in vitro model of IMN by preconditioning mouse podocytes with puromycin aminonucleoside (PAN). A Cell Counting Kit-8 was used to detect the proliferation of each group of podocytes.

Effect of autophagy and stromal interaction molecule 1 on podocyte epithelial-mesenchymal transition in diabetic nephropathy.

Aim: We aimed to assess the effect of autophagy and stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) on podocyte epithelial-mesenchymal transition in diabetic nephropathy.

Methods: The sera of 8-week-old db/db and C57BL/KsJ rats were used to culture MPC5 cells. The experiment was divided into 4 groups: MPC5 + siRNA-Scr + 10% C57BL/KsJ (Group A), MPC5 + siRNA-STIM1 + 10% C57BL/KsJ (Group B), MPC5 + siRNA-Scr + 10% db/db (Group C), and MPC5 + siRNA-STIM1 + 10% db/db (Group D).