Correspondence to Keiichi Hishikawa: hishikawa-tky{at}umin.ac.jp
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Introduction |
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In this study, we first tried to clarify the gene expression profile of kidney SP cells in healthy control and renal failure models by microarray analysis. The results of microarray and quantitative PCR analysis clarified that musculin/MyoR is exclusively expressed in kidney SP cells but not in non-SP cells, and we further examined the functional role of musulin/MyoR in kidney SP cells. Musculin/MyoR is a newly discovered basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) protein that represses myogenesis (Robb et al., 1998; Lu et al., 1999) and controls facial muscle development with capsulin (Lu et al., 2002). Musculin/MyoR mRNA is first expressed at 9.8 days postcoitum in the mouse embryo, and is almost exclusively restricted to cells of skeletal muscle lineage, with peak expression at 1415 days postcoitum. To our knowledge, no study has confirmed the expression of musculin/MyoR in adult kidney tissue.
We then aimed to determine the functional role of BCRP1 and musculin/MyoR in the kidney. We found that kidney SP cells, but not non-SP cells, are protected from cell death by BCRP1. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is up-regulated in reversible cisplatin-induced acute renal failure (ARF), and is considered to play a role for regeneration process (Yoshino et al., 2003). In this study, we also examined the expression of renoprotective factors such as hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), VEGF, bone morphologic protein (BMP) 7, and LIF in kidney SP cells. In an ARF model, gene expression of renoprotective factors and LIF was up-regulated in kidney SP cells but not in non-SP cells. On the other hand, there was no up-regulation of renoprotective factors and LIF in irreversible chronic renal failure (CRF) models. In cultured kidney SP cells, LIF augmented gene expression of renoprotective factors. Although inhibition of BCRP1 showed no effect on LIF-induced gene expression of renoprotective factors, down-regulation of musculin/MyoR augmented it. These results provide evidence that expression of musculin/MyoR is not limited to the skeletal muscle lineage and the production of renoprotective factors in kidney SP cells is regulated by LIF and musculin/MyoR, but nor by BCRP1.
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Results |
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Discussion |
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Robb et al. (1998) failed to detect expression of musculin/MyoR in adult tissue by Northern blotting but demonstrated expression in the adult brain, spleen, and muscle but not in the kidney, liver, lung, or thymus by RNase protection assay. Yu et al. (2003) detected expression of musculin/MyoR in the adult brain, heart, liver, lung, small intestine, spleen, and thymus by Northern blotting. This discrepancy may be explained by the sensitivity of their assay, but our results also suggest that musculin/MyoR expression is not lineage restricted as has been reported, but is expressed in a relatively broad spectrum of adult tissue. Musculin/MyoR was originally identified as a transcriptional repressor in embryonic skeletal muscle precursors, but its function in adult tissue is not known. In fact, musculin/MyoR knockout mice were not embryonic lethal, and analysis of kidney function in these mice has not been completed (unpublished data). In the present study, we demonstrated that down-regulation of musculin/MyoR augmented LIF-induced gene expression of HGF, VEGF, and BMP7 in kidney SP cells. These results showed that musculin/MyoR plays a role as a transcriptional repressor in adult kidney SP cells as reported in embryonic skeletal muscle. The physiological role of kidney SP cells is still unclear, but systemic administration of RA, which down-regulates musculin/MyoR (Yu et al., 2003), augmented the recovery of ARF (Perez et al., 2004). To down-regulate musculin/MyoR in vivo, we injected histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA), which down-regulates musculin/MyoR (Yu et al., 2003), in control and CRF model (nephrotoxic serum model, NTN model). As in the case with HIGA and ICGN, kidney SP cells analyzed by FACS were reduced in NTN model. Surprisingly, daily injection (for 21 d) of TSA almost completely abolished musculin/MyoR-positive cells in the kidney of control and NTN model and completely prevented progression of CRF in NTN model. Moreover, regenerative factors were also up-regulated by treatment with TSA (unpublished data). Together, these results suggest that musculin/MyoR-positive cells could be new targets for regeneration in renal failure, and we are currently trying to clarify its role using a renal failure model in musculin/MyoR knockout mice.
Theoretically, an activated transcription factor should be located within the nucleus, but musculin/MyoR was expressed throughout kidney SP cells. Inactive sterol regulatory element binding proteins, another member of the bHLH transcription factor family, are synthesized as precursors in the cytoplasm and bind to the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. Upon activation, the active forms of sterol regulatory element binding proteins enter the nucleus and activate several genes that control the synthesis and uptake of cholesterol and unsaturated fatty acids (Nagoshi and Yoneda, 2001). Pod1, which is also a bHLH transcription factor expressed in kidney stromal cells and is required for glomerulogenesis, is distributed throughout cells located in peritubular interstitial space in the kidney (Cui et al., 2003). These results suggest that localization of a transcription factor such as musculin/MyoR throughout kidney SP cells is not unique, but further characterization may be needed to fully understand its mechanism of translocation.
Infusion of kidney SP cells significantly augmented recovery of ARF and increased musculin/MyoR-positive cells in the interstitial space. Therefore, we speculate that homing of kidney SP cells to the interstitial space is necessary for regeneration in the ARF model induced by cisplatin. Recently, cardiac stem cells were found in the interstitium between well-differentiated myocytes (Beltrami et al., 2003), and myogenic-endothelial progenitor cells with the SP phenotype were also identified in the interstitial spaces of skeletal muscle (Tamaki et al., 2002), suggesting that SP cells commonly reside in the interstitial space. We also systemically injected kidney SP cells from GFP mice and DiI-labeled kidney SP cells, and found that these cells were located in the interstitial spaces of kidney (Fig. S2, available at http://www.jcb.org/cgi/content/full/jcb.200412167/DC1). As the interstitial space of the kidney has a fine microcirculation system, musculin/MyoR-positive kidney SP cells in the interstitial space may provide paracrine growth support for neighboring cells in vivo. Several growth factors such as HGF, VEGF, and BMP7 have been reported to contribute to kidney regeneration. Especially, BMP7 is the only factor that reverses chronic renal injury (Zeisberg et al., 2003) and Lin et al. (2005) recently reported the important role of BMP7 enhancer in CRF. Administration of exogenous LIF ameliorates glomerulonephritis (Tang et al., 1996), and LIF is up-regulated in ARF (Yoshino et al., 2003). Therefore, we examined the expression of these factors in kidney SP cells in renal failure. As shown in Fig. 6 and 7, all of these factors were significantly up-regulated in the reversible ARF model, but not in the irreversible CRF models, and LIF increased the gene expression of HGF, VEGF, and BMP7 in cultured kidney SP cells. Moreover, the number of SP cells was decreased in the irreversible CRF models (Fig. 1 B). We also examined the effect of kidney SP cell infusion on CRF model (unilateral ureteral obstruction model) but found no significant improvement (Fig. S3, available at http://www.jcb.org/cgi/content/full/jcb.200412167/DC1). Recently, we also reported that LIF induces multilineage differentiation of kidney SP cells in culture (Hishikawa et al., 2005), and some other pathways can be involved in the restoration of renal function. Although the precise mechanism regarding the regenerative role of kidney SP cells remains to be clarified, our results suggest that loss of musulin/MyoR-positive kidney SP cells and inadequate expression of key factors such as LIF and BMP7 in CRF may determine the fate of CRF.
BCRP1/ABCG2 is reported to determine the SP phenotype (Zhou et al., 2001). Enforced expression of BCRP1/ABCG2 inhibits hematopoietic development (Zhou et al., 2001), but its mechanism is still unclear. BCRP1/ABCG2 is a member of ABC transporters (Gottesman et al., 2002) and is known to transport doxorubicin, daunorubicin, mitoxantrone, topotecan, and prazocin. Although many ABC transporters have been identified as drug-resistance proteins, they are all expressed in normal tissues. Consistent with their wide distribution, it is becoming clear that in addition to exogenously administered drugs, ABC proteins transport numerous endogenous substrates. It is well know that ABC transporters have an important role in protecting the central nervous system through the blood brain barrier (Schinkel et al., 1996), and BCRP1/ABCG2 in the placenta may play a role in protecting fetal blood from toxic organic anions and excreting glutathione/glucuronide metabolites into maternal circulation (Gottesman et al., 2002). Considering these results, we examined the protective role of BCRP1 in kidney SP cells. The role for TNF- in cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity has been well established (Ramesh and Reeves, 2002), and important roles of TNF-
are also reported in IgA nephropathy (Tuglular et al., 2003; Chan et al., 2005) and nephrotic syndrome (Suranyi et al., 1993; Kim et al., 2004; Raveh et al., 2004). As shown in Fig. 3, kidney SP cells were more sensitive to TNF-
than non-SP cells, and BCRP1 protected kidney SP cells from cell death. The precise mechanism of TNF-
induced cell death in kidney SP cells and direct in vivo evidence linking these effects to progression of renal failure remain to be determined, but our results may explain why the number of musculin/MyoR-positive kidney SP cells was decreased in renal failure in which inflammatory cytokines were overexpressed.
In summary, our study provides evidence for a new role of musculin/MyoR and a protective role of BCRP1 in kidney SP cells. Our results suggest that members of the bHLH family of transcription factors such as musculin/MyoR may play important roles not only in embryonic developmental processes but also in regenerative processes in adult tissue.
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Materials and methods |
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Clinical biochemistry
Blood samples were measured using an automated analyzer (model Fuji Dri-Chem 3500V; Fuji Film Co.).
SP cell analysis and cell sorting
Mice were anesthetized and were perfused via the abdominal aorta with normal saline. Kidneys were harvested and the tissue was minced with a razor blade and digested by collagenase. The cell suspensions were filtered through a c ell strainer (Falcon 2350; Becton Dickinson) to remove debris. The filtrates were analyzed as previously described (Matsuzaki et al., 2004). In brief, after filtration by cell strainer, the kidney cells were resuspended at 1 x 106 cells/ml in Hank's balanced salt solution (supplemented with 2% FCS and 10 mM Hepes) and then incubated with 5 µg/ml Hoechst33342 (Sigma-Aldrich) for 60 min for 37°C. A parallel aliquot was stained with Hoechst33342 in the presence of 50 µM of reserpine (Sigma-Aldrich). As the batch of the Hoechst33342 sometimes affected FACS profile, we screened several batches and ultimately chose lot number 31K4028 for use in the experiments. Cell analysis and sorting were performed on a triple laser MoFlo (DakoCytomation). Hoechst33342 was excited at 350 nm, and fluorescence emission was detected by using a 405/BP30 and 570/BP20 optical filter for Hoechst blue and Hoechst red, respectively, and a 550-nm long-pass dichroic mirror to separate the emission wavelengths. Both Hoechst blue and red fluorescence are shown on a linear scale. PI fluorescence was measured through 630BP30 after excitation at 499 nm with an argon laser, and live cell gate was defined as that which excluded the cells positive for PI. After collecting 1 x 105 events, the SP population was defined as reported previously (Matsuzaki et al., 2004).
Microarray analysis
DNA microarray hybridization experiments were performed using Atlas glass Mouse3.8 I microarray (CLONTECH Laboratories, Inc.) according to the manufacturer's protocol. The protocol and the complete list of genes can be viewed at the manufacturer's website. The DNA arrays were scanned using GenePix4000A (Hishikawa et al., 2001).
Histological analysis
Sections were blocked with 1% skimmed milk (Morinaga) in PBS for 60 min at RT, and then incubated with 2 µg/ml of goat antimouse musculin polyclonal antibody (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc.) or rabbit anti-BCRP1 antibody (PC-138; Kamiya Biomedical Company) for overnight at 4°C. After washing three times in PBS for 5 min at RT, sections were incubated with Alexa Fluor 488 or 546 donkey antigoat IgG (Molecular Probes) or Alexa Fluor 594 goat antirabbit IgG (Molecular Probes) at a dilution of 1:200 for 30 min at RT. All sections were washed three times in PBS for 5 min and then mounted with Pro-Long Antifade kit (Molecular Probes) and sealed for analysis. For SP cell staining, cells were spun down by cytospin immediately after FACS sorting. Tissues and cells were also stained with TO PRO-3 (T-3605; Molecular Probes) for nuclear staining. Stained sections and cells were observed by a confocal microscope (model TCS SL; Leica). To adjust laser power, we used sections and cells stained with secondary antibody alone as negative controls and confirmed that the fluorescence is due to reactivity with the primary antibody. Tubular injury was assessed in periodic acid Schiffstained sections using a semiquantitative scale in which the percentage of cortical tubules showing epithelial necrosis was assessed a score: 0, normal; 1, <10%; 2,1025%; 3, 2675%; 4, >75% (Ramesh and Reeves, 2002).
Cell death
The kidney SP and non-SP cells (2 x 103 cells/well were seeded in a 96 multi-well plate) were incubated in DME/F12 with 10% FBS for 24 h just after FACS sorting. Cell survival was evaluated by trypan blue exclusion assay, and DNA fragmentation was measured using a cell death detection ELISA (Roche) according to the manufacturer's instructions. The percentage of apoptosis was evaluated based on nuclear morphology. Cells were washed with PBS, fixed with fresh 10% PFA for 30 min, and incubated in Hoechst33258 (Sigma-Aldrich) at RT for 30 min (final concentration, 30 µg/ml; Hishikawa et al., 2001).
Cisplatin-induced ARF and SP cell infusion
Mice (C57BL/6; 8 wk old) were given a single i.p. injection of either vehicle (saline) or cisplatin (12 mg/kg of body weight). Several doses of cisplatin were tested (520 mg/kg of body weight), and 12 mg/kg was chosen to produce mild renal failure with the ability for partial or full recovery. Bone marrow mononuclear cells were isolated from the femurs and tibias of mice by density gradient centrifugation with Ficoll-Paque Plus (Amersham Biosciences). Approximately 10,000 freshly isolated bone marrow mononuclear, kidney SP, and non-SP cells prepared from C57BL/6 mice were injected via the tail vein 24 h after cisplatin injection (Table S1, available at http://www.jcb.org/cgi/content/full/jcb.200412167/DC1).
RT-PCR and real-time PCR
The sequences of primers for RT-PCR were as follows. GAPDH forward 5'-TGCTGAGTATGTCGTGGA-3' and reverse 5'-AGTTGCTGTTGAAGTCGC-3'; musculin/MyoR forward 5'-GGAGGACCGCTACGAGGACA-3' and reverse 5'-ACCCACAGAAGGCTATGCT-3'. RT-PCR conditions for musculin/MyoR and GAPDH were 35 cycles of 94°C for 30 s, 59°C for 1 min, and 72°C for 1 min. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed using commercially available TaqMan probes (for HGF, VEGF, BMP7, and musculin) and analyzed on a sequence detector system (model ABI PRISM 7000; BD Biosciences). Quantitative values were obtained from the threshold PCR cycle number at which an increase in signal associated with exponential growth of the PCR product started to be detected. The relative mRNA levels in each sample were normalized to its GAPDH content.
Online supplemental material
Fig. S1 shows immunohistochemical analysis of kidney non-SP cells. Fig. S2 shows engraftment of kidney SP cells in interstitial spaces by systemic kidney SP cell infusion. Fig. S3 shows the effect of SP cell injection on CRF model (unilateral ureteral obstruction model). Online supplemental material is available at http://www.jcb.org/cgi/content/full/jcb.200412167/DC1.
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Acknowledgments |
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This study was supported by Mochida Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Mebiol Inc., and Health and Labor Science Research Grants for Research on Specific Diseases from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.
Submitted: 29 December 2004
Accepted: 16 May 2005
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References |
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