The crosstalk between glomerular endothelial cells and podocytes controls their responses to metabolic stimuli in diabetic nephropathy

• Verfasst von: Albrecht, Michael [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Sticht, Carsten [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Wagner, Tabea [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Hettler, Steffen Andreas [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Torre, Carolina de la [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Qiu, Jiedong [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Gretz, Norbert [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Albrecht, Thomas [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Yard, Benito A. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Sleeman, Jonathan P. [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Garvalov, Boyan K. [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: The crosstalk between glomerular endothelial cells and podocytes controls their responses to metabolic stimuli in diabetic nephropathy
• Verf.angabe: Michael Albrecht, Carsten Sticht, Tabea Wagner, Steffen A. Hettler, Carolina De La Torre, Jiedong Qiu, Norbert Gretz, Thomas Albrecht, Benito Yard, Jonathan P. Sleeman & Boyan K. Garvalov
• E-Jahr: 2023
• Jahr: 20 October 2023
• Umfang: 17 S.
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 01.12.2023
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Scientific reports
• Ort Quelle: [London] : Springer Nature, 2011
• Jahr Quelle: 2023
• Band/Heft Quelle: 13(2023), Artikel-ID 17985, Seite 1-17
• ISSN Quelle: 2045-2322
• DOI: doi:10.1038/s41598-023-45139-7
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Sach-SW: Diabetes complications
• Sach-SW: Diabetic nephropathy
• Sach-SW: Mechanisms of disease
• Sach-SW: Transcriptomics
• K10plus-PPN: 1871770653

Abstract

In diabetic nephropathy (DN), glomerular endothelial cells (GECs) and podocytes undergo pathological alterations, which are influenced by metabolic changes characteristic of diabetes, including hyperglycaemia (HG) and elevated methylglyoxal (MGO) levels. However, it remains insufficiently understood what effects these metabolic factors have on GEC and podocytes and to what extent the interactions between the two cell types can modulate these effects. To address these questions, we established a co-culture system in which GECs and podocytes were grown together in close proximity, and assessed transcriptional changes in each cell type after exposure to HG and MGO. We found that HG and MGO had distinct effects on gene expression and that the effect of each treatment was markedly different between GECs and podocytes. HG treatment led to upregulation of “immediate early response” genes, particularly those of the EGR family, as well as genes involved in inflammatory responses (in GECs) or DNA replication/cell cycle (in podocytes). Interestingly, both HG and MGO led to downregulation of genes related to extracellular matrix organisation in podocytes. Crucially, the transcriptional responses of GECs and podocytes were dependent on their interaction with each other, as many of the prominently regulated genes in co-culture of the two cell types were not significantly changed when monocultures of the cells were exposed to the same stimuli. Finally, the changes in the expression of selected genes were validated in BTBR ob/ob mice, an established model of DN. This work highlights the molecular alterations in GECs and podocytes in response to the key diabetic metabolic triggers HG and MGO, as well as the central role of GEC-podocyte crosstalk in governing these responses.