Chitinase-like protein Brp-39/YKL-40 modulates the renal response to ischemic injury and predicts delayed allograft function.

Kidney hypoperfusion during episodes of systemic hypotension or after surgical procurement for transplantation can lead to tubular cell death via necrosis and apoptosis, which trigger a series of responses that promote repair. The factors that contribute to the repair phase after kidney injury are not well understood. Using a urine proteomic screen in mice, we identified the macrophage-secreted chitinase-like protein Brp-39, the murine protein product of the chitinase 3-like 1 gene, as a critical component of this reparative response that serves to limit tubular cell apoptotic death via activation of Akt, improving animal survival after kidney ischemia/reperfusion. Examination of graded times of renal ischemia revealed a direct correlation between the degree of kidney injury and both Chi3l1/Brp-39 expression in the kidney and its levels in the urine. In samples collected from patients undergoing deceased-donor kidney transplantation, we found higher levels of the orthologous human protein, YKL-40, in urine and blood from allografts subjected to sufficient peri-transplant ischemia to cause delayed graft function than from allografts with slow or immediate graft function. Urinary levels of YKL-40 obtained within hours of transplant predicted the need for subsequent dialysis in these patients. In summary, these data suggest that Brp-39/YKL-40 is a sensor of the degree of injury, a critical mediator of the reparative response, and a possible biomarker to identify patients at greatest risk of sustained renal failure after transplantation.

Vascular endothelial growth factor induces branching morphogenesis/tubulogenesis in renal epithelial cells in a neuropilin-dependent fashion.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is well characterized for its role in endothelial cell differentiation and vascular tube formation. Alternate splicing of the VEGF gene in mice results in various VEGF-A isoforms, including VEGF-121 and VEGF-165. VEGF-165 is the most abundant isoform in the kidney and has been implicated in glomerulogenesis. However, its role in the tubular epithelium is not known. We demonstrate that VEGF-165 but not VEGF-121 induces single-cell branching morphogenesis and multicellular tubulogenesis in mouse renal tubular epithelial cells and that these morphogenic effects require activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-K) and, to a lesser degree, the extracellular signal-regulated kinase and protein kinase C signaling pathways. Further, VEGF-165-stimulated sheet migration is dependent only on PI 3-K signaling. These morphogenic effects of VEGF-165 require activation of both VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) and neuropilin-1 (Nrp-1), since neutralizing antibodies to either of these receptors or the addition of semaphorin 3A (which blocks VEGF-165 binding to Nrp-1) prevents the morphogenic response and the phosphorylation of VEGFR-2 along with the downstream signaling. We thus conclude that in addition to endothelial vasculogenesis, VEGF can induce renal epithelial cell morphogenesis in a Nrp-1-dependent fashion.

Microarray analysis of in vitro pericyte differentiation reveals an angiogenic program of gene expression.

The vasculature consists of endothelial cells (ECs) lined by pericyte/vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs). Pericyte/vSMCs provide support to the mature vasculature but are also essential for normal blood vessel development. To determine how pericyte-EC communication influences vascular development, we used the well-established in vitro model of TGFbeta-stimulated differentiation of 10T1/2 cells into pericyte/vSMCs. Microarray analysis was performed to identify genes that were differentially expressed by induced vs. uninduced 10T1/2 cells. We discovered that these cells show an angiogenic program of gene expression, with up-regulation of several genes previously implicated in angiogenesis, including VEGF, IL-6, VEGF-C, HB-EGF, CTGF, tenascin C, integrin alpha5, and Eph receptor A2. Up-regulation of some genes was validated by Western blots and immunocytochemistry. We also examined the functional significance of these gene expression changes. VEGF and IL-6 alone and in combination were important in 10T1/2 cell differentiation. Furthermore, we used a coculture system of 10T1/2 and human umbilical vein ECs (HUVECs), resulting in the formation of cordlike structures by the HUVECs. This cordlike structure formation was disrupted when neutralizing antibodies to VEGF or IL-6 were added to the coculture system. The results of these studies show that factors produced by pericytes may be responsible for recruiting ECs and promoting angiogenesis. Therefore, a further understanding of the genes involved in pericyte differentiation could provide a novel approach for developing anti-angiogenic therapies.

Hepatocyte growth factor-mediated renal epithelial branching morphogenesis is regulated by glypican-4 expression.

The glypican (Gpc) family of cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans are expressed in a tissue-specific and developmentally regulated fashion. To determine if individual Gpcs can modulate heparin-binding growth factor signaling, we examined hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)-stimulated mitogenic, motogenic, and morphogenic responses of renal tubular cells expressing different Gpcs. Adult inner medullary collecting duct (IMCD) cells were found to express primarily Gpc4 and to proliferate, migrate, and form tubules with HGF, correlating with sustained extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation. Embryonic IMCD cells expressing predominantly Gpc3 proliferated and migrated in response to HGF but activated ERK only transiently and failed to form tubules. Overexpressing Gpc-4 but not Gpc-3 or Gpc-1 led to sustained HGF-stimulated ERK activation and rescued the tubulogenic response in these cells. These results demonstrate that both signaling and phenotypic responses to HGF can be regulated by specific Gpc expression patterns.

Antiangiogenic property of human thrombin.

Using protein chromatography, we purified and identified human prothrombin from human plasma as antiangiogenic. Prothrombin significantly inhibited endothelial cell tube formation in vitro at 10 microg/ml. Importantly, it also inhibited bFGF-induced angiogenesis in Matrigel-plug assays performed in mice. The proteolytic activity of thrombin appeared to be critical for the antiangiogenic activity of prothrombin. For example, thrombin exhibited inhibitory effects on endothelial cell tube formation in vitro at 10 U/ml. Addition of lepirudin, a specific inhibitor of thrombin, completely blocked prothrombin's and thrombin's antiangiogenic effects in vitro. We also assessed the importance of thrombin receptors in angiogenesis. Using small peptides that activate different protease-activated receptors (PARs), we showed that activation of PAR-1 led to inhibition of endothelial cell tube formation in vitro and bFGF-induced angiogenesis in vivo. Collectively, our data suggest that thrombin's proteolytic activity can be antiangiogenic.

Bone marrow stem cells contribute to repair of the ischemically injured renal tubule.

The paradigm for recovery of the renal tubule from acute tubular necrosis is that surviving cells from the areas bordering the injury must migrate into the regions of tubular denudation and proliferate to re-establish the normal tubular epithelium. However, therapies aimed at stimulating these events have failed to alter the course of acute renal failure in human trials. In the present study, we demonstrate that Lin-Sca-1+ cells from the adult mouse bone marrow are mobilized into the circulation by transient renal ischemia and home specifically to injured regions of the renal tubule. There they differentiate into renal tubular epithelial cells and appear to constitute the majority of the cells present in the previously necrotic tubules. Loss of stem cells following bone marrow ablation results in a greater rise in blood urea nitrogen after renal ischemia, while stem cell infusion after bone marrow ablation reverses this effect. Thus, therapies aimed at enhancing the mobilization, propagation, and/or delivery of bone marrow stem cells to the kidney hold potential as entirely new approaches for the treatment of acute tubular necrosis.

Mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells during homeostasis and after cytokine exposure.

We created parabiotic mice, joining ROSA26 and PeP3b animals, to study the trafficking of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from marrow to blood and their return to marrow. The transfer of HSCs was assayed by secondary marrow transplantation and was 1.0% to 2.5% after 3, 6, 8, and 12 weeks. Thus, HSC homeostasis is primarily maintained by the retention of stem cells derived from replication events within the marrow, not the homing and engraftment of HSCs from the circulation. Of interest, the phenotypes of marrow progenitors and granulocytes were similar to those for HSCs, implying that the marrow functions as an intact compartment where differentiating cells derive from endogenous HSC. In contrast, 50% of splenic granulocytes and progenitor cells derived from the parabiotic partner, suggesting splenic progenitor cells were in constant equilibrium with progenitors in blood. In additional studies, animals were exposed to granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and stem cell factor at days 17 to 20 of parabiosis and were studied 3 weeks later; 10.1% of marrow HSCs derived from the parabiotic partner. These data imply that HSCs, mobilized to the blood in response to cytokine exposure, are destined to later return to marrow, an observation that supports the concept that the mobilized peripheral blood stem cells used in clinical transplantation function physiologically.

In vitro and in vivo induction of antiangiogenic activity by plasminogen activators and captopril.

BACKGROUND: Many antiangiogenic molecules are proteolytically cleaved from larger plasma proteins. For example, plasminogen activators cleave plasminogen into plasmin, and plasmin is converted into angiostatin in the presence of sulfhydryl donors. We thus investigated whether the antiangiogenic activity in plasma could be increased by treatment with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) and the sulfhydryl donor captopril. METHODS: Human plasma was treated with rt-PA (10 micro g/mL) and/or captopril (1 micro M). Angiogenesis was measured in vitro by human endothelial cell tube formation and endothelial cell proliferation and in vivo in mice with the Matrigel plug assay. Angiostatin was removed from treated plasma by affinity chromatography, immunoprecipitation, or ion-exchange chromatography, and the antiangiogenic activity of the depleted plasma was assessed by tube formation. Three cancer patients were treated with rt-PA and captopril, and their pretreatment and post-treatment plasmas were tested for antiangiogenic activity in vitro. RESULTS: Angiogenesis in vitro was stimulated by untreated plasma and inhibited by plasma that had been treated with rt-PA and captopril but was not affected by treatment with rt-PA and/or captopril alone. In vivo angiogenesis in Matrigel plugs was substantially lower in mice treated with rt-PA and captopril than in untreated control mice. Antiangiogenic activity in treated plasma was largely retained after angiostatin was removed: treated plasma inhibited angiogenesis by 64.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 46.4% to 82.2%), relative to untreated plasma, and treated plasma depleted of angiostatin by affinity chromatography or immunoprecipitation inhibited angiogenesis by 65.1% (95% CI = 53.8% to 76.4%) or 63.7% (95% CI = 50.9% to 76.5%), respectively. Antiangiogenic activity of plasma from three cancer patients was higher after treatment with rt-PA and captopril than before such treatment. CONCLUSION: Treatment with rt-PA and captopril induced antiangiogenic activity in vitro and in vivo that appears to be independent of angiostatin.

Endostatin is a potential inhibitor of Wnt signaling.

Endostatin (ES) is a fragment of collagen XVIII that possesses antiangiogenic activity. To gain insight into ES-mediated signaling, we studied the effects of ES RNA on Xenopus embryogenesis and observed developmental abnormalities consistent with impaired Wnt signaling. ES RNA blocked the axis duplication induced by beta-catenin, partially suppressed Wnt-dependent transcription, and stimulated degradation of both wild-type and "stabilized" forms of beta-catenin, the latter suggesting that ES signaling does not involve glycogen synthase kinase 3. Moreover, ES uses a pathway independent of the Siah1 protein in targeting beta-catenin for proteasome-mediated degradation. ES failed to suppress the effects of T cell-specific factor (TCF)-VP16 (TVP), a constitutive downstream transcriptional activator that acts independently of beta-catenin. Importantly, these data were replicated in endothelial cells and also in the DLD-1 colon carcinoma cells with the mutated adenomatous polyposis coli protein. Finally, suppression of endothelial cell migration and inhibition of cell cycle by ES were reversed by TVP. Though high levels of ES were used in both the Xenopus and endothelial cell studies and the effects on beta-catenin signaling were modest, these data argue that at pharmacological concentrations ES may impinge on Wnt signaling and promote beta-catenin degradation.