Hypoxia and renal fibrosis.

Renal fibrosis is the final stage of most progressive kidney diseases. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with high comorbidity and mortality. Thus, preventing fibrosis and thereby preserving kidney function increases the quality of life and prolongs the survival of patients with CKD.

Hypoxia controls expression of kidney-pathogenic variants.

The interplay between genetic and environmental factors influences the course of chronic kidney disease (CKD). In this context, genetic alterations in the kidney disease gene (Mucin1) predispose to the development of CKD. These variations comprise the polymorphism rs4072037, which alters splicing of MUC1 mRNA, the length of a region with variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR), and rare autosomal-dominant inherited dominant-negative mutations in or 5' to the VNTR that causes autosomal dominant tubulointerstitial kidney disease (ADTKD-).

Hypoxia induces polycystin-1 expression in the renal epithelium.

Mutations in polycystin-1 which is encoded by the gene are the main causes for the development of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. However, only little is known about the physiological function of polycystin-1 and even less about the regulation of its expression. Here, we show that expression of is induced by hypoxia and compounds that stabilize the hypoxia-inducible transcription factor (HIF) 1 in primary human tubular epithelial cells.