Podocyte Injury and Long-term Kidney Prognosis in Patients with Lupus Nephritis.

Background: Lupus nephritis (LN) is a major complication of systemic lupus erythematosus. Like other types of glomerulonephritis, podocyte injury has been observed in patients with LN. However, the association between podocyte injury and kidney prognosis in patients with LN has not been well elucidated.

Nephrotic syndrome induces the upregulation of cell proliferation-related genes in tubular cells in mice.

Background: Massive proteinuria, dyslipidemia, and hypoalbuminemia induced by nephrotic syndrome (NS) secondarily affect tubular cells. We conducted an RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis using a mouse model of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis to clarify the impact of NS on tubular cells.

Methods: We used transgenic mice expressing hCD25 in podocytes (Nep25) to induce NS by injecting human CD25-specific immunotoxin (LMB2) at a dose of 0.

ATP dynamics as a predictor of future podocyte structure and function after acute ischemic kidney injury in female mice.

Acute kidney injury (AKI), typically caused by ischemia, is a common clinical complication with a poor prognosis. Although proteinuria is an important prognostic indicator of AKI, the underlying causal mechanism remains unclear. In vitro studies suggest that podocytes have high ATP demands to maintain their structure and function, however, analyzing their ATP dynamics in living kidneys has been technically challenging.

Dach1 is essential for maintaining normal mature podocytes.

Dach1 is highly expressed in normal podocytes, but this expression rapidly disappears after podocyte injury. To investigate the role of Dach1 in podocytes in vivo, we analyzed global, podocyte-specific, and inducible Dach1 knockout mice. Global Dach1 knockout (Dach1-/-) mice were assessed immediately after birth because they die within a day.

Early growth response 1 as a podocyte injury marker in human glomerular diseases.

Background: In human glomerular diseases, visualizing podocyte injury is desirable since podocytes do not regenerate and podocyte injury leads to podocyte loss. Herein, we investigated the utility of immunostaining for early growth response 1 (EGR1), which is expressed in injured podocytes from the early stages of injury in animal experiments, as a podocyte injury marker in human glomerular diseases.

Methods: This study included 102 patients with biopsy-proven glomerular diseases between 2018 and 2021.