Myeloid-specific targeting of Notch ameliorates murine renal fibrosis via reduced infiltration and activation of bone marrow-derived macrophage

Protein & Cell

Xiaowei Liu¹  Yingying Lu¹  Peng Zhang¹  Junlong Zhao²  Yuanyuan Wang²  Pengfei Ma²  Dongjie An²  Hua Han²  Yuchen Ye²  Hongyan Qin²  Yali Jiang²  Shiqian Liang² 

[1] Department of Nephrology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University;State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Department of Medical Genetics and Developmental Biology, Fourth Military Medical University;

关键词: renal fibrosis;    Notch signaling;    macrophages;    heterogeneity;    EMT;   

DOI  :  10.1007/s13238-018-0527-6

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Macrophages play critical roles in renal fibrosis. However, macrophages exhibit ontogenic and functional heterogeneities, and which population of macrophages contributes to renal fibrosis and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we genetically targeted Notch signaling by disrupting the transcription factor recombination signal binding protein-Jκ (RBP-J), to reveal its role in regulation of macrophages during the unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO)-induced murine renal fibrosis. Myeloid-specific disruption of RBP-J attenuated renal fibrosis with reduced extracellular matrix deposition and myofibroblast activation, as well as attenuated epithelial-mesenchymal transition, likely owing to the reduced expression of TGF-β. Meanwhile, RBP-J deletion significantly hampered macrophage infiltration and activation in fibrotic kidney, although their proliferation appeared unaltered. By using macrophage clearance experiment, we found that kidney resident macrophages made negligible contribution, but bone marrow (BM)-derived macrophages played a major role in renal fibrogenesis. Further mechanistic analyses showed that Notch blockade reduced monocyte emigration from BM by down-regulating CCR2 expression. Finally, we found that myeloid-specific Notch activation aggravated renal fibrosis, which was mediated by CCR2+ macrophages infiltration. In summary, our data have unveiled that myeloid-specific targeting of Notch could ameliorate renal fibrosis by regulating BM-derived macrophages recruitment and activation, providing a novel strategy for intervention of this disease.

【 授权许可】

Unknown