Project description:COVID-19 associated acute kidney injury (COVID-AKI) is a common complication of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hospitalized patients. It is unclear how susceptible human kidneys are to direct SARS-CoV-2 infection and whether pharmacologic manipulation of the renin-angiotensin II signaling (RAS) pathway modulates this susceptibility. Using induced pluripotent stem cell derived kidney organoids, SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV tropism, defined by the paired expression of a host receptor (ACE2, NRP1 or DPP4) and protease (TMPRSS2, TMPRSS4, FURIN, CTSB or CTSL), was identified primarily amongst proximal tubule cells. Losartan, an angiotensin II receptor blocker being tested in COVID-19 patients, inhibited angiotensin II mediated internalization of ACE2, upregulated interferon stimulated genes (IFITM1 and BST2) known to restrict viral entry, and attenuated the infection of proximal tubule cells by SARS-CoV-2. Our work highlights the susceptibility of proximal tubule cells to SARS-CoV-2 and reveals a putative protective role for RAS inhibitors during SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Project description:COVID-19-associated acute kidney injury (COVID-AKI) is a common complication of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hospitalized patients. The susceptibility of human kidneys to direct SARS-CoV-2 infection and modulation of the renin-angiotensin II signaling (RAS) pathway by viral infection remain poorly characterized. Using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived kidney organoids, SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2, and MERS-CoV tropism, defined by the paired expression of a host receptor (ACE2, NRP1 or DPP4) and protease (TMPRSS2, TMPRSS4, FURIN, CTSB or CTSL), was identified primarily among proximal tubule cells. Losartan, an angiotensin II receptor blocker being tested in patients with COVID-19, inhibited angiotensin II-mediated internalization of ACE2, upregulated interferon-stimulated genes (IFITM1 and BST2) known to restrict viral entry, and attenuated the infection of proximal tubule cells by SARS-CoV-2. Our work highlights the susceptibility of proximal tubule cells to SARS-CoV-2 and reveals a putative protective role for RAS inhibitors during SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Project description:Single-cell RNA-seq of iPSC derived human kidney organoids. Single-nuclei RNA-seq data of COVID-19 patient autopsy kidney tissue. The current data was used to suggest that SARS-CoV-2 can directly infect kidney cells and induce cell injury as well as a pro-fibrotic environment which could explain acute kidney injury in COVID-19 patients and also long-term effects potentially leading to the development of chronic kidney disease.
Project description:Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the major global health problems with high incidence, poor prognosis and high medical cost. However, few pharmacological options are available for CKD. Metformin is widely used for treatment of type-2 diabetes, but recent works showed that metformin ameliorates tumor progression, inflammatory disease and tissue fibrosis. Whether metformin ameliorates non-diabetic chronic glomerular disease and CKD is unexplored. Here we showed that metformin or losartan (used as control) has protective effects against CKD by suppressing proteinuria, renal inflammation, fibrosis and glomerular injury in Alport syndrome mouse model, which spontaneously manifests chronic glomerular and kidney disease. Transcriptome analysis showed that metformin and losartan influenced molecular pathways of metabolism and inflammation, respectively. While metformin specifically affected genes that were classified as metabolic regulators, losartan specifically altered genes that were classified as inflammatory regulators. Metformin also induced multiple signaling pathways not affected by losartan. Overall, metformin ameliorates non-diabetic chronic glomerular diseases, and could be considered a therapeutic option for CKD. We used microarrays to investigate the global gene expression underlying the protective effects of metformin on Alport syndrome mice model
Project description:Safety issues of human iPSC-derived kidney organoids as a regenerative therapy need to be evaluated. Therefore, we studied the immunogenicity of human iPSC-derived kidney organoids. We subcutaneously implanted kidney organoids in immune-deficient IL2Ry-/-RAG2-/- mice for 1 month and hereafter performed adoptive transfer of healthy allogeneic human PBMC. We used single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to analyze the diversity of kidney organoid cells and immune cell profiles. We investigated whether innate and adaptive immune cells invade kidney organoids, evoke an immune response, and influence the kidney organoid differentiation and functional capacity. Understanding the immunogenicity of kidney organoids will advance studies in the applicability of kidney organoids for regenerative medicine. Furthermore, it can serve as an in-vivo transplantation model to study solid organ transplantation.
Project description:Kidney organoids were generated from a control iPSC line using a previously published protocol (https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2016.098). Organoids were collected at three timepoints during the protocol (day 14, 18 and 25) and prepared for proteomic analyses. The focus of the study was to define the proteomic composition of kidney organoids during differentiation with a particular emphasis on the extracellular matrix and its comparison to in vivo systems. Following a ample fractionation and matrix enrichment strategy, samples were prepared for high resolution label-free tandem mass spectrometry to define the proteomic composition of human kidney organoids.
Project description:Hepatocyte nuclear factor 1B (HNF1B) encodes a transcription factor expressed in developing human kidney epithelia. Heterozygous HNF1B mutations are the commonest monogenic cause of dysplastic kidney malformations (DKMs). To understand their pathobiology, we generated heterozygous HNF1B mutant kidney organoids from CRISPR-Cas9 gene-edited human ESCs and iPSCs reprogrammed from a family with HNF1B-asscociated DKMs. Mutant organoids contained enlarged malformed tubules and displayed deregulated cell turnover. This submission is RNAseq of organoids from MAN13 embryonic stem cells.