Nitric oxide modulates expression of extracellular matrix genes linked to fibrosis in kidney mesangial cells.

Mesangial cells are thought to be important mediators of glomerular inflammation and fibrosis. Studies have established a direct role for nitric oxide (NO) in the regulation of gene expression in mesangial cells. Representational difference analysis was used to investigate changes in gene expression elicited by the treatment of S-nitroso-L-glutathione in rat mesangial cells.

Histologic analysis of renal leukocyte infiltration in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis: importance of monocyte and neutrophil infiltration in tissue damage.

Objective: The histopathologic lesions in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) have been studied extensively, but the exact composition of the cellular infiltrate is unclear. We undertook this study to analyze renal leukocyte infiltration and the cellular distribution within glomeruli and interstitium in 65 renal biopsy samples obtained from patients newly diagnosed as having AAV.

Methods: Renal cellular tissue infiltration was assessed with an immunoperoxidase method.

Specific inhibition of Egr-1 prevents mesangial cell hypercellularity in experimental nephritis.

Background: Mesangial cell proliferation is a frequent finding in glomerulonephritis. In cultured mesangial cells, we demonstrated that inhibition of the zinc finger transcription factor, early growth response gene-1 (Egr-1), by specific antisense oligonucleotides (AS ODN) blocks mesangial cell proliferation. Therefore, we here investigated the effect of Egr-1 inhibition on the course of an experimental mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis in vivo.