The mRNA landscape profiling reveals potential biomarkers associated with acute kidney injury AKI after kidney transplantation

Characterization of a WD-repeat family protein WDR3 in the brain of WDR3 hetero knockout mice

The nuclear protein WDR3 is a member of the WD-repeat family and is a component of the 18S pre-rRNA processing complex. However, the expression and function of WDR3 in the brain remains unknown. To characterize WDR3 in the adult mouse brain, we developed Wdr3 heterozygous knockout (WDR3-HKO) mice. Notably, no homozygous Wdr3 knockout mice were born, suggesting that complete absence of WDR3 causes lethal abnormalities during embryogenesis. Brain Wdr3 mRNA expression was significantly reduced to 60% in the WDR3-HKO mice compared to wild type (WT) mice, while the expression of 18S rRNA did not decline. Using immunohistochemistry and X-gal staining, we demonstrated that WDR3 is widely expressed in the mouse brain, especially in the hippocampus, habenular nucleus, and cerebellum. We observed no differences in body weight during adulthood or developmental weight gain between the WDR3-HKO and WT mice. Interestingly, WDR3-HKO mice exhibited a slight but significant increase in spontaneous locomotor activity compared to WT littermates. In conclusion, the WDR3-HKO mice showed no significant phenotypic changes. Further studies are required to explore the behavioral characteristics of WDR3-HKO mice.

Assessing the Global Impact on the Mouse Kidney After Traumatic Brain Injury: A Transcriptomic Study

Purpose

In this study, we use animal models combined with bioinformatics strategies to investigate the potential changes in overall renal transcriptional expression after traumatic brain injury.

Methods

Microarray analysis was performed after kidney acquisition using unilateral controlled cortical impact as the primary mouse TBI model. Multi-oriented gene set enrichment analysis was performed for differentially expressed genes.

Results

The results showed that TBI affected the gene set associated with mitochondria function in kidney cells, and a negative enrichment of gene sets associated with immune cell migration and epidermal development was also observed. Analysis of the disease phenotype gene set revealed that differential expression of mitochondria-related genes was associated with lactate metabolism. Alternatively, activation and adhesion of immune cells associated with the complement system may promote autoinflammation in kidney tissue. The simulated immune cell infiltration analysis showed an increase in the proportion of activated memory CD4 T cells and a decrease in the proportion of resting memory CD4 T cells, suggesting that activated memory CD4 T cell infiltration may be involved in the inflammation of renal tissue and cause damage to renal cells, such as principal cells, mesangial cells and loops of Henle cells.

Conclusion

This study is the first to reveal the effects of brain trauma on the kidney. TBI may affect the expression of mitochondria function-related gene sets in renal cells by increasing lactate. It may also affect renal mesangial cells by inducing increased infiltration of immune cells through mechanisms related to complement system activation or autoimmune antibodies.

Identification of Multiple Hub Genes in Acute Kidney Injury after Kidney Transplantation by Bioinformatics Analysis

Background and Objectives: The molecular mechanisms of the development of acute kidney injury (AKI) after kidney transplantation are not yet clear. The aim of this study was to confirm the genes and mechanisms related to AKI after transplantation. Materials and Methods: To investigate potential genetic targets for AKI, an analysis of the gene expression omnibus database was used to identify key genes and pathways. After identification of differentially expressed genes, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genome pathway enrichment analyses were performed. We identified the hub genes and established the protein-protein interaction network. Results: Finally, we identified 137 differentially expressed genes (59 upregulated genes and 16 downregulated genes). AKAP12, AMOT, C3AR1, LY96, PIK3AP1, PLCD4, PLCG2, TENM2, TLR2, and TSPAN5 were filtrated by the hub genes related to the development of post-transplant AKI from the Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) network. Conclusions: This may provide important evidence of the diagnostic and therapeutic biomarker of AKI.

A Review of Current and Emerging Trends in Donor Graft-Quality Assessment Techniques

The number of patients placed on kidney transplant waiting lists is rapidly increasing, resulting in a growing gap between organ demand and the availability of kidneys for transplantation. This organ shortage has forced medical professionals to utilize marginal kidneys from expanded criteria donors (ECD) to broaden the donor pool and shorten wait times for patients with end-stage renal disease. However, recipients of ECD kidney grafts tend to have worse outcomes compared to those receiving organs from standard criteria donors (SCD), specifically increased risks of delayed graft function (DGF) and primary nonfunction incidence. Thus, representative methods for graft-quality assessment are strongly needed, especially for ECDs. Currently, graft-quality evaluation is limited to interpreting the donor’s recent laboratory tests, clinical risk scores, the visual evaluation of the organ, and, in some cases, a biopsy and perfusion parameters. The last few years have seen the emergence of many new technologies designed to examine organ function, including new imaging techniques, transcriptomics, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, and new solutions in organ perfusion, which has enabled a deeper understanding of the complex mechanisms associated with ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), inflammatory process, and graft rejection. This review summarizes and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of current conventional diagnostic methods and a wide range of new potential strategies (from the last five years) with respect to donor graft-quality assessment, the identification of IRI, perfusion control, and the prediction of DGF.