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Project description:Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the leading cause of progressive chronic kidney disease in adults in the United States. However, the impact of preterm birth on the progression of DKD has not been studied. The goal of this project is to determine the effect of preterm birth on kidney health in a diabetic mouse model. CD-1 pups born preterm (19 days post conception (dpc)) and term (20 dpc) were studied, and outcomes of the male mice were reported, all compared to term mice. Preterm and term mice were treated with streptozotocin at six weeks to induce hyperglycemia. Body weight and blood sugar were monitored. Histologic, molecular, and imaging techniques were used to characterize the mice at 18 weeks. The preterm mice with diabetes had a lower podocyte density, lower proximal tubular fraction, and more atubular glomeruli compared to the term mice without diabetes. They also had a lower podocyte density and lower renin expression compared to term mice with diabetes. Based on single-cell RNA sequencing, preterm mice with diabetes had increased expression of genes related to the angiogenesis migration pathway-related in endothelial cells and increased expression of genes in the actin adhesion pathway in podocytes compared to term mice with diabetes. Furthermore, the preterm mice with diabetes exhibited a weaker endothelial cell-podocyte interaction compared to term mice with diabetes. These data suggest that preterm birth increases susceptibility to glomerular and tubular damage after a brief “second hit” of hyperglycemia. In conclusion, preterm birth disrupts endothelial-podocyte crosstalk and increases susceptibility to kidney injury induced by hyperglycemia.
2025-06-04 | GSE280780 | GEO
Project description:Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the leading cause of progressive chronic kidney disease in adults in the United States. However, the impact of preterm birth on the progression of DKD has not been studied. The goal of this project is to determine the effect of preterm birth on kidney health in a diabetic mouse model. CD-1 pups born preterm (19 days post conception (dpc)) and term (20 dpc) were studied, and outcomes of the male mice were reported, all compared to term mice. Preterm and term mice were treated with streptozotocin at six weeks to induce hyperglycemia. Body weight and blood sugar were monitored. Histologic, molecular, and imaging techniques were used to characterize the mice at 18 weeks. The preterm mice with diabetes had a lower podocyte density, lower proximal tubular fraction, and more atubular glomeruli compared to the term mice without diabetes. They also had a lower podocyte density and lower renin expression compared to term mice with diabetes. Based on single-cell RNA sequencing, preterm mice with diabetes had increased expression of genes related to the angiogenesis migration pathway-related in endothelial cells and increased expression of genes in the actin adhesion pathway in podocytes compared to term mice with diabetes. Furthermore, the preterm mice with diabetes exhibited a weaker endothelial cell-podocyte interaction compared to term mice with diabetes. These data suggest that preterm birth increases susceptibility to glomerular and tubular damage after a brief “second hit” of hyperglycemia. In conclusion, preterm birth disrupts endothelial-podocyte crosstalk and increases susceptibility to kidney injury induced by hyperglycemia.
2025-06-04 | GSE280781 | GEO
Project description:Preterm birth increases susceptibility to hyperglycemia-induced glomerular alterations in the kidneys of male mice
| PRJNA1180526 | ENA
Project description:Preterm birth increases susceptibility to hyperglycemia-induced glomerular alterations in the kidneys of male mice [scRNA-seq]
| PRJNA1180529 | ENA
Project description:Preterm birth increases susceptibility to hyperglycemia-induced glomerular alterations in the kidneys of male mice [bulk RNA-seq]
| PRJNA1180530 | ENA
Project description:Emerging clinical evidence points to a function for B cell activating factor (BAFF) in pregnancy. However, a direct role for BAFF-axis members including BAFF, the closely related a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL), and their respective receptors in pregnancy has not been examined. This study demonstrates that loss of BAFF results in decreased inflammatory responsiveness and decreased susceptibility to inflammation-induced preterm birth (PTB). In contrast, loss of APRIL increases inflammatory responsiveness and susceptibility to PTB. Consistent with overlapping receptor utilization by BAFF and APRIL, deletion of BAFF-axis receptors is not sufficient to modify susceptibility to PTB. Critically, therapeutic administration of BAFF/APRIL monoclonal antibodies or recombinant proteins is sufficient to manipulate susceptibility to inflammation-induced PTB. Further, macrophages are identified as the principle BAFF producing immune cells at the maternal-fetal interface and BAFF and APRIL divergently manipulate macrophage gene expression and inflammatory function. Genes linked to labor initiation are upregulated in WT and APRIL deficient macrophages while downregulated in BAFF deficient macrophages and correlate with myeloid gene expression in human placental samples during labor. Thus, BAFF and APRIL play important, but divergent, counterregulatory inflammatory roles in pregnancy and provide new therapeutic targets for mitigating the risk of PTB.
2023-08-03 | GSE202811 | GEO
Project description:Clinical evidence points to a function for B cell-activating factor (BAFF) in pregnancy. However, direct roles for BAFF-axis members in pregnancy have not been examined. Here, via utility of genetically modified mice, we report that BAFF promotes inflammatory responsiveness and increases susceptibility to inflammation-induced preterm birth (PTB). In contrast, we show that the closely related A proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) decreases inflammatory responsiveness and susceptibility to PTB. Known BAFF-axis receptors serve a redundant function in signaling BAFF/APRIL presence in pregnancy. Treatment with anti-BAFF/APRIL monoclonal antibodies or BAFF/APRIL recombinant proteins is sufficient to manipulate susceptibility to PTB. Notably, macrophages at the maternal-fetal interface produce BAFF, while BAFF and APRIL presence divergently shape macrophage gene expression and inflammatory function. Overall, our findings demonstrate that BAFF and APRIL play divergent inflammatory roles in pregnancy and provide therapeutic targets for mitigating risk of inflammation-induced PTB.
| S-EPMC10551044 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Preterm birth (PTB) is a leading worldwide cause of morbidity and mortality in infants. Maternal inflammation induced by microbial infection is a critical predisposing factor for PTB. However, biological processes associated with competency of pathogens, including viruses, to induce PTB or sensitize for secondary bacterial infection-driven PTB are unknown. We show that pathogen/pathogen-associated molecular pattern-driven activation of type I IFN/IFN receptor (IFNAR) was sufficient to prime for systemic and uterine proinflammatory chemokine and cytokine production and induction of PTB. Similarly, treatment with recombinant type I IFNs recapitulated such effects by exacerbating proinflammatory cytokine production and reducing the dose of secondary inflammatory challenge required for induction of PTB. Inflammatory challenge-driven induction of PTB was eliminated by defects in type I IFN, TLR, or IL-6 responsiveness, whereas the sequence of type I IFN sensing by IFNAR on hematopoietic cells was essential for regulation of proinflammatory cytokine production. Importantly, we also show that type I IFN priming effects are conserved from mice to nonhuman primates and humans, and expression of both type I IFNs and proinflammatory cytokines is upregulated in human PTB. Thus, activation of the type I IFN/IFNAR axis in pregnancy primes for inflammation-driven PTB and provides an actionable biomarker and therapeutic target for mitigating PTB risk.
| S-EPMC5333966 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Hundreds of naturally occurring milk peptides have been found in term human milk. Whether there are differences between the levels of these peptides between term and preterm milk remains unknown. Premature milk is produced before complete maturation of the mammary gland and is under the influence of a different hormonal milieu, which could change enzymatic activity and protein expression within the mammary gland and result in an altered peptide profile. We employed nano-liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to identify naturally occurring peptides in term and premature milks at multiple time-points across lactation and compare the abundances of these peptides. We found that preterm milks produced more unique peptide sequences than term milks on average (359 vs. 286). The peptides identified were searched for overlapping sequences with an in-house database of known functional peptides. Specifically, we found that both term and preterm milks contain peptides overlapping with known sequences with antimicrobial, opioid antagonist and immunomodulatory actions. We also compared the enzymes involved in degradation of both milks via bioinformatic analysis. This analysis reveals that plasmin is more active in preterm milk than term milk.
2016-07-07 | PXD001079 | Pride
Project description:Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) selectively develops in some individuals exposed to a traumatic event. Genetic and epigenetic changes in glucocorticoid pathway sensitivity may be essential for understanding individual susceptibility to PTSD. This study focuses on PTSD markers in the glucocorticoid pathway, spotlighting glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper (GILZ), a transcription factor encoded by the gene Tsc22d3 on the X chromosome. We propose that GILZ uniquely "quantifies" exposure to stressors experienced from late gestation to adulthood and that low levels of GILZ predispose individuals to PTSD in males only. GILZ mRNA and methylation were measured in 396 male and female human blood samples from the Grady Trauma Project cohort (exposed to multiple traumatic events). In mice, changes in glucocorticoid pathway genes were assessed following exposure to stressors at distinct time points: (i) CRF-induced prenatal stress (CRF-inducedPNS) with, or without, additional exposure to (ii) PTSD induction protocol in adulthood, which induces PTSD-like behaviors in a subset of mice. In humans, the number of traumatic events correlated negatively with GILZ mRNA levels and positively with % methylation of GILZ in males only. In male mice, we observed a threefold increase in the number of offspring exhibiting PTSD-like behaviors in those exposed to both CRF-inducedPNS and PTSD induction. This susceptibility was associated with reduced GILZ mRNA levels and epigenetic changes, not found in females. Furthermore, virus-mediated shRNA knockdown of amygdalar GILZ increased susceptibility to PTSD. Mouse and human data confirm that dramatic alterations in GILZ occur in those exposed to a stressor in early life, adulthood or both. Therefore, GILZ levels may help identify at-risk populations for PTSD prior to additional traumatic exposures.
| S-EPMC6658561 | biostudies-literature