Project description:Using the highly sensitive miRNA array, we screened 40 miRNAs were differentially expressed among the three groups and we explored the functions of these miRNAs in the serum by Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes annotation. The enrichment results indicated that these miRNAs mainly participated in the oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction pathways. Furthermore, the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction showed the different expression of miRNA might potentially be used to discriminate septic AKI from sepsis-non AKI and they were correlated with the regulation of mitochondrial oxidative stress and dysfunction, including PGC-1α, SIRT1, mTOR, OXSR1 and NOX5.
Project description:Cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) type 4 is prevalent among the chronic kidney disease (CKD) population, with many patients dying from cardiovascular complications. However, limited data regarding cardiac transcriptional changes induced early by CKD is available. We used a murine unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model to evaluate cardiac transcriptional regulation at 21 days post-surgery through RNA-seq and bioinformatics. UUO leads to significant kidney injury, low uremia, and pathological cardiac remodeling. RNA-seq analysis identified 76 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in UUO hearts. Upregulated DEGs were significantly enriched in cell cycle and cell division pathways, immune responses, cardiac repair, inflammation, proliferation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis further revealed mitochondrial oxidative bioenergetic pathways, autophagy, and peroxisomal pathways are downregulated in UUO hearts. Vimentin was also identified as an UUO-upregulated transcript. Our results emphasize the relevance of extensive transcriptional and epigenetic changes, mitochondrial dysfunction, homeostasis deregulation, fatty-acid metabolism alterations, and vimentin upregulation in CRS type 4 development.
Project description:Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) has been shown to have a cardioprotective effect against inflammatory diseases. However, the mechanisms underlying the protective role of melatonin in these diseases remain to be revealed. In this study, melatonin was administrated to mice 14 days before cecal ligation puncture surgery. The characteristics of sepsis-induced AKI and myocarditis were detected. The results showed that melatonin could alleviated cardiac and renal dysfunction in sepsis model. RNA-seq analysis showed that MLT repressed the oxidant stress in response to kidney injury. RNA sequencing assays with heart tissues showed melatonin maintains the mitochondrial function in sepsis-caused myocarditis.
Project description:The kidney has a high energy demand and is dependent on oxidative metabolism for ATP production. Accordingly, the kidney is rich in mitochondria, and mitochondrial dysfunction is a common denominator for several renal diseases. While the mitochondrial master regulator peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) is highly expressed in kidney, its role in renal physiology is so far unclear. Here we show that PGC-1α is a central transcriptional regulator of mitochondrial metabolic pathways in the kidney. Moreover we demonstrate that mice with an inducible nephron-specific inactivation of PGC-1α in the kidney display elevated urinary sodium excretion, exacerbated renal steatosis during metabolic stress but normal blood pressure regulation. Overall, PGC-1α seems largely dispensable for basal renal physiology. However, the central role of PGC-1α in renal mitochondrial biogenesis indicates that activation of PGC-1α in the context of renal disorders could be a valid therapeutic strategy to ameliorate renal mitochondrial dysfunction.
Project description:Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) quantitative and qualitative defects have been associated with impaired human embryonic development, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. By using human embryos affected by mitochondrial disorders as models of mitochondrial dysfunction, we compared gene expression between 9 mitochondrial embryos (carriers of a pathogenic variant in a mtDNA or a nuclear gene coding for a mitochondrial protein) to 33 controls. Transcriptomic analyses performed by RNA-Sequencing revealed a similar global transcriptional repression in mitochondrial embryos affecting a significant proportion of differentiation factors and nuclear genes encoding mitochondrial proteins. If oxidative phosphorylation was at the top of the most significant deregulated pathways, cell survival and autophagy were found to be significantly decreased in these embryos, questioning their viability. Differentially expressed genes identified in this study represent good predictive biomarkers of mitochondrial dysfunction and should be tested as markers of preimplantation development.
Project description:Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a severe form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) that underlies a growing prevalence of cirrhosis and liver cancer worldwide. Clinical studies suggest that NASH is an independent risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD), but models and mechanisms linking these two diseases are lacking. Here, we have characterized the renal function, histological features, and transcriptomic profile in a well-validated murine NASH model generated by feeding a western diet (WD), with high contents of fat, fructose, and cholesterol, combined with a low dose of weekly IP carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). NASH mice developed significant glomerulosclerosis, tubular epithelial cell injury, and interstitial fibrosis at an intermediate stage (12 weeks). Animals with advanced NASH (24 weeks) displayed renal dysfunction, proteinuria, and renal fibrosis characterized by increased collagen deposition as tubulointerstitial fibrosis, tubular atrophy, and inflammatory cell infiltration. Mice treated with a low dose of CCl4 alone did not develop renal injury, thereby excluding the possibility of CCl4-induced nephrotoxicity. Transcriptomic analysis of kidney cortices revealed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that were highly enriched in mitochondrial dysfunction, ATP synthesis, and oxidative stress at the intermediate stage (12 weeks) and dysregulation of the immune response, lipid metabolic process, and insulin signaling pathways at the late stage (24 weeks). NRF-mediated oxidative stress pathway, Sirtuin signaling, and AMPK pathways were also highly enriched. Our results confirm a causative role of NASH in the development of CKD and reveal potential mechanisms of NASH-induced kidney injury. These findings establish valuable model to study the pathogenesis of NASH-associated CKD, an important feature of fatty liver disease that has been largely overlooked, yet has clinical and prognostic importance.
Project description:Heat illness, which remains an occupational and environmental hazard, can be caused by excessive strain or heat load in combination with other factors. In the 10-year period from 1999 to 2009, an average of 658 annual heat-related deaths occurred in the United States. While heat stress at the cellular level has been studied, a paucity of risk assessment and injury biomarkers as well as therapeutic interventions remains. To identify novel biomarkers and to further understand the molecular mechanisms of heat stress, we identified differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) in the heart, liver, and kidney from a conscious rat model at three time points. We distinguished the effect in animals with histopathological evidence of heart injury from those without evidence of organ injury. In animals without evidence of injury, we identified a total of 45 unique modulated miRNAs, whereas in the three animals with evidence of injury, we identified 171 unique differentially expressed miRNAs. The majority of the perturbed miRNAs were both time and tissue specific. Using the data from a microarray companion study, we identified the mRNAs that are the predicted targets of the differentially expressed miRNAs and performed pathway enrichment analysis. The enrichment analysis suggested that the perturbed miRNAs are involved in biological pathways related to energy metabolism, the unfolded protein response, and organ injury. These miRNAs may serve as organ-specific heat stress biomarkers of exposure or effect, as well as identify potential targets of heat illness prevention. Heart, liver, lung and kidney tissue was collected from rats at Tc,max and at 24 and 48 h for both heat exposed rats (n=4 to 6) or time matched, unheated controls (n= 4 to 6)
Project description:Rationale: Sepsis is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality; early diagnosis and prediction of progression is difficult to determine. The integration of metabolomic and transcriptomic data in an experimental model of sepsis may be a novel method to identify molecular signatures of clinical sepsis. Objectives: Develop a biomarker panel for earlier diagnosis and prognostic characterization of sepsis patients to inform personalized clinical management and improve understanding of the pathophysiology of sepsis progression. Methods: Mild to severe sepsis, lung injury and death was recapitulated in Macaca fascicularis by intravenous inoculation of Escherichia coli. Plasma samples were obtained at time of challenge and at one, three, and five days later or time of euthanasia. Necropsy was performed and blood, lung, kidney and spleen samples were obtained. An integrative analysis of comprehensive metabolomic and transcriptomic datasets was performed to identify and parameterize a biomarker panel. Measurements and Main Results: Pathogen invasion, respiratory distress, lethargy and mortality was dose dependent. Severe infection and death were associated with metabolomic and transcriptomic changes indicative of mitochondrial, peroxisomal and liver dysfunction. Analysis of reciprocal pulmonary transcriptome and plasma metabolome data revealed an integrated host response that suggested dysregulated fatty acid catabolism resulting from peroxisome-proliferator activated receptor signaling. A representative 4-metabolite model effectively diagnosed sepsis in primates (AUC 0.966) and in two human sepsis cohorts (AUC=0.78 and 0.82). Conclusion: A model to guide early management of patients with sepsis was developed by analysis of reciprocal metabolomic and transcriptomic data in primates that diagnosed sepsis in humans. Transcriptomic analysis of lungs from Cynomolgus macaques challenged with E. coli
Project description:Calcineurin inhibitor nephrotoxicity (CNIT) has been associated with the development of chronic renal allograft dysfunction and decreased graft survival. This study evaluated 37 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded biopsies from pediatric kidney transplant recipients using gene expression profiling. Oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial dysfunction were the top molecular pathways as-sociated with overexpressed genes in CNIT samples. Decreased ATP synthesis was identified as a significant biological function in CNIT, while key toxicology pathways included NRF2-mediated oxidative stress response and increased permeability transition of mitochondria.
Project description:Kidney transplant injury processes are associated with molecular changes in renal tissue, primarily related to immune cell activation and infiltration. How these processes are reflected by molecular alterations in circulating immune cells is poorly understood. We performed RNA-sequencing on 384 biobanked blood samples from four transplant centers, taken at time of a kidney allograft biopsy, selected for their phenotype (acute T cell- and antibody-mediated rejection, polyomavirus-associated nephropathy, and control). We performed differential expression analysis and pathway analysis per phenotype. In peripheral blood, differentially expressed genes in rejection vs. no rejection samples demonstrated upregulation of glucocorticoid receptor and NOD-like receptor signaling pathways. Pathways enriched in antibody-mediated rejection were strongly immune-specific, whereas pathways enriched in T cell-mediated rejection were less immune related. Differentially expressed genes in polyoma viremia and polyomavirus-associated nephropathy were similar and demonstrated upregulation of mitochondrial dysfunction and interferon signaling pathways. Our results highlight the immune activation pathways in peripheral blood leukocytes at time of antibody-mediated rejection and polyomavirus nephropathy and provide a framework for future therapeutic interventions.