TY  - JOUR
A1  - Babelova, Andrea
A1  - Jansen, Felix
A1  - Sander, Kerstin
A1  - Löhn, Matthias
A1  - Schäfer, Liliana
A1  - Fork, Christian
A1  - Ruetten, Hartmut
A1  - Plettenburg, Oliver
A1  - Stark, Holger
A1  - Daniel, Christoph
A1  - Amann, Kerstin
A1  - Pavenstädt, Hermann
A1  - Jung, Oliver
A1  - Brandes, Ralf
T1  - Activation of Rac-1 and RhoA contributes to podocyte injury in chronic kidney disease
T2  - PLoS One
N2  - Rho-family GTPases like RhoA and Rac-1 are potent regulators of cellular signaling that control gene expression, migration and inflammation. Activation of Rho-GTPases has been linked to podocyte dysfunction, a feature of chronic kidney diseases (CKD). We investigated the effect of Rac-1 and Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibition on progressive renal failure in mice and studied the underlying mechanisms in podocytes. SV129 mice were subjected to 5/6-nephrectomy which resulted in arterial hypertension and albuminuria. Subgroups of animals were treated with the Rac-1 inhibitor EHT1846, the ROCK inhibitor SAR407899 and the ACE inhibitor Ramipril. Only Ramipril reduced hypertension. In contrast, all inhibitors markedly attenuated albumin excretion as well as glomerular and tubulo-interstitial damage. The combination of SAR407899 and Ramipril was more effective in preventing albuminuria than Ramipril alone. To study the involved mechanisms, podocytes were cultured from SV129 mice and exposed to static stretch in the Flexcell device. This activated RhoA and Rac-1 and led via TGFβ to apoptosis and a switch of the cells into a more mesenchymal phenotype, as evident from loss of WT-1 and nephrin and induction of α-SMA and fibronectin expression. Rac-1 and ROCK inhibition as well as blockade of TGFβ dramatically attenuated all these responses. This suggests that Rac-1 and RhoA are mediators of podocyte dysfunction in CKD. Inhibition of Rho-GTPases may be a novel approach for the treatment of CKD.
Y1  - 2013
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/32251
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-322510
SN  - 1932-6203
N1  - Copyright: © 2013 Babelova et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
VL  - 8
IS  - (11):e80328
PB  - PLoS
CY  - Lawrence, Kan.
ER  -