Eligibility for Baroreflex Activation Therapy and medication adherence in patients with apparently resistant hypertension.

Uncontrolled hypertension is a main risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity. Baroreflex activation therapy (BAT) is an effective therapy option addressing true resistant hypertension. We evaluated patients' eligibility for BAT in a staged assessment as well as adherence to antihypertensive drug therapy.

Urine proteomics for prediction of disease progression in patients with IgA nephropathy.

Background: Risk of kidney function decline in immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy (IgAN) is significant and may not be predicted by available clinical and histological tools. To serve this unmet need, we aimed at developing a urinary biomarker-based algorithm that predicts rapid disease progression in IgAN, thus enabling a personalized risk stratification.

Methods: In this multicentre study, urine samples were collected in 209 patients with biopsy-proven IgAN.

Syndecan-4 as a Marker of Endothelial Dysfunction in Patients with Resistant Hypertension.

(1) Background: Arterial hypertension (HTN) is one of the most relevant cardiovascular risk factors. Nowadays multiple pharmaceutical treatment options exist with novel interventional methods (e.g.

Sirtuin 1 and endothelial glycocalyx.

Sirtuin1 deficiency or reduced activity comprises one of the hallmarks of diseases as diverse as chronic cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic, some malignancies, and infections, as well as aging-associated diseases. In a mouse model of endothelium-limited defect in sirtuin 1 deacetylase activity, we found a dramatic reduction in the volume of endothelial glycocalyx. This was associated with the surge in the levels of one of key scaffolding heparan sulfate proteoglycans of endothelial glycocalyx, syndecan-4, and specifically, its extracellular domain (ectodomain).

Plasma Exchange or Immunoadsorption in Demyelinating Diseases: A Meta-Analysis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease mainly affecting the central nervous system. In MS, abnormal immune mechanisms induce acute inflammation, demyelination, axonal loss, and the formation of central nervous system plaques. The long-term treatment involves options to modify the disease progression, whereas the treatment for the acute relapse has its focus in the administration of high-dose intravenous methylprednisolone (up to 1000 mg daily) over a period of three to five days as a first step.

Effect of baroreflex activation therapy on renal sodium excretion in patients with resistant hypertension.

Objective: Activation of the sympathetic nervous system increases sodium retention in resistant hypertension. Baroreflex activation therapy (BAT) is an interventional method to reduce sympathetic overactivity in patients with resistant hypertension. This study aimed to assess the effect of BAT on urinary sodium excretion.

Immunoadsorption or plasma exchange in steroid-refractory multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica.

Background: Plasma exchange (PE) and immunoadsorption (IA) are alternative treatments of steroid-refractory relapses of multiple sclerosis (MS) or neuromyelitis optica (NMO).

Methods: Adverse events and neurological follow-ups in 127 MS- (62 PE, 65 IA) and 13 NMO- (11 PE, 2 IA) patients were retrospectively analyzed. Response was defined by improvements in either expanded disability status scale (EDSS) by at least 1.

Fibrogenic Secretome of Sirtuin 1-Deficient Endothelial Cells: Wnt, Notch and Glycocalyx Rheostat.

Sirtuins (SIRT) are ubiquitous histone and protein deacetylases and a member of this family, SIRT1, is the best-studied one. Its functions in endothelial cells encompass branching angiogenesis, activation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase, regulation of proapoptotic and proinflammatory pathways, among others. Defective SIRT1 activity has been described in various cardiovascular, renal diseases and in aging-associated conditions.

Maternal malnourishment induced upregulation of fetuin-B blunts nephrogenesis in the low birth weight neonate.

Maternal undernutrition during pregnancy (MUN) often leads to low birth weight (LBW) neonates that have a reduced total nephron endowment, leaving these neonates susceptible to kidney disease throughout their lives. For reasons unknown, these LBW neonates have impaired kidney development due to a severe reduction in renal SIX2 stem cells during nephrogenesis. Using a mouse model of MUN, we investigated SIX2 stem cell reduction in the LBW neonate.

Dickkopf-3 in aberrant endothelial secretome triggers renal fibroblast activation and endothelial-mesenchymal transition.

Background: Our laboratory has previously demonstrated that Sirt1endo-/- mice show endothelial dysfunction and exaggerated renal fibrosis, whereas mice with silenced endothelial transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) signaling are resistant to fibrogenic signals. Considering the fact that the only difference between these mutant mice is confined to the vascular endothelium, this indicates that secreted substances contribute to these contrasting responses.

Methods: We performed an unbiased proteomic analysis of the secretome of renal microvascular endothelial cells (RMVECs) isolated from these two mutants.

Endothelial cell dysfunction and glycocalyx - A vicious circle.

Dysfunctional endothelial cells are an essential contributor to the progression of diverse chronic cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases. It manifests in impairment of nitric oxide-dependent vasorelaxation, vascular permeability, and leukocytes deterrent. While endothelial glycocalyx is known to regulate these functions, glycocalyx has been shown to be impaired in pathologic settings leading to endothelial dysfunction.

Endothelial dysfunction is a superinducer of syndecan-4: fibrogenic role of its ectodomain.

Syndecan-4 (Synd4) is a member of the membrane-spanning, glycocalyx-forming proteoglycan family. It has been suggested that Synd4 participates in renal fibrosis. We compared wild-type and fibrosis-prone endothelial sirtuin 1-deficient (Sirt1) mice, the latter being a model of global endothelial dysfunction.

HMGB1 redox during sepsis.

During sepsis, the alarmin HMGB1 is released from tissues and promotes systemic inflammation that results in multi-organ damage, with the kidney particularly susceptible to injury. The severity of inflammation and pro-damage signaling mediated by HMGB1 appears to be dependent on the alarmin's redox state. Therefore, we examined HMGB1 redox in kidney cells during sepsis.

Endothelial glycocalyx-the battleground for complications of sepsis and kidney injury.

After briefly discussing endothelial glycocalyx and its role in vascular physiology and renal disease, this overview focuses on its degradation very early in the course of microbial sepsis. We describe our recently proposed mechanism for glycocalyx degradation induced by exocytosis of lysosome-related organelles and release of their cargo. Notably, an intermediate in nitric oxide synthesis, NG-hydroxy-l-arginine, shows efficacy in curtailing exocytosis of these organelles and improvement in animal survival.

The third path of tubulointerstitial fibrosis: aberrant endothelial secretome.

The secretome, defined as a portion of proteins secreted by specific cells to the extracellular space, secures a proper microenvironmental niche not only for the donor cells, but also for the neighboring cells, thus maintaining tissue homeostasis. Communication via secretory products exists between endothelial cells and fibroblasts, and this local mechanism maintains the viability and density of each compartment. Endothelial dysfunction, apart from obvious cell-autonomous defects, leads to the aberrant secretome, which predisposes fibroblasts to acquire a myofibroblastic fibrogenic phenotype.

Low birth weight is associated with impaired murine kidney development and function.

BackgroundLow birth weight (LBW) neonates have impaired kidney development that leaves them susceptible to kidney disease and hypertension during adulthood. The study here identifies events that blunt nephrogenesis and kidney development in the murine LBW neonate.MethodsWe examined survival, kidney development, GFR, gene expression, and cyto-/chemokines in the LBW offspring of malnourished (caloric and protein-restricted) pregnant mice.

Instructive Role of the Microenvironment in Preventing Renal Fibrosis.

Accumulation of myofibroblasts is a hallmark of renal fibrosis. A significant proportion of myofibroblasts has been reported to originate via endothelial-mesenchymal transition. We initially hypothesized that exposing myofibroblasts to the extract of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) could reverse this transition.

ESR1 single nucleotide polymorphisms predict breast cancer susceptibility in the central European Caucasian population.

Estrogen and progesterone hormones are key regulators of a wide variety of biological processes. In addition to their influence on reproduction, cell differentiation and apoptosis, they affect inflammatory response, cell metabolism and most importantly, they regulate physiological breast tissue proliferation and differentiation as well as the development and progression of breast cancer. In order to assess whether genetic variants in the steroid hormone receptor gene ESR1 (estrogen receptor alpha) had an effect on sporadic breast cancer susceptibility, we assessed 7 ESR1 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for associations with breast cancer susceptibility and clinical parameters in 221 breast cancer patients and 221 controls, respectively.