| First Author | Hamasaki Y | Year | 2012 |
| Journal | Lab Invest | Volume | 92 |
| Issue | 8 | Pages | 1161-70 |
| PubMed ID | 22525429 | Mgi Jnum | J:186847 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5433423 | Doi | 10.1038/labinvest.2012.71 |
| Citation | Hamasaki Y, et al. (2012) 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase inhibitor simvastatin ameliorates renal fibrosis through HOXA13-USAG-1 pathway. Lab Invest 92(8):1161-70 |
| abstractText | Epidemiological data have suggested that 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) prevent the progression of chronic kidney diseases (CKDs), whereas the precise mechanism explaining in vitro to in vivo is missing. This study is aimed at exploring a new mechanism of action by statins on renal fibrosis, a hallmark of CKD, using mouse renal fibrosis model in vivo and Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells expressing USAG-1 in vitro. C57/BL6 mice fed a 0.2% adenine-containing diet for 4 weeks developed renal dysfunction accompanied with severe tubulointerstitial fibrosis. Subsequent simvastatin (SIM) treatment (50 mg/kg per day) for 2 weeks significantly suppressed fibrosis progression. We found that SIM enhanced bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7)-mediated anti-fibrotic signaling with the reduced expression of uterine sensitization-associated gene-1 (USAG-1), a BMP-7 antagonist produced by renal distal tubular epithelial cells. Therefore, MDCK cells were incubated with transforming growth factor-beta1 and showed increased expression of USAG-1 and alpha-smooth muscle actin; SIM significantly reduced them. SIM significantly increased E-cadherin expression. Gene knockdown experiments using MDCK suggested that homeobox protein Hox-A13 (HOXA13) played a suppressive role in the USAG-1 gene and thus SIM reduced USAG-1 by increasing HOXA13 expression. The data from our study demonstrate that SIM, one of statins, contributes to prevent the progression of renal fibrosis by upregulating BMP-7-mediated anti-fibrotic signaling and that one aspect of crucial efficacies is achieved by regulating HOXA13 and USAG-1. HOXA13-USAG-1 pathway is a newly identified mechanism in renal fibrosis and will be a new therapeutic target for preventing renal fibrosis progression in CKDs. |
