Abstract
Studies on the role of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in different forms of kidney disease have yielded discrepant results. Here, we report the biphasic change of renal β-catenin expression in mice with overload proteinuria in which β-catenin was upregulated at the early stage (4 weeks after disease induction) but abrogated at the late phase (8 weeks). Acute albuminuria was observed at 1 week after bovine serum albumin injection, followed by partial remission at 4 weeks that coincided with overexpression of renal tubular β-catenin. Interestingly, a rebound in albuminuria at 8 weeks was accompanied by downregulated tubular β-catenin expression and heightened tubular apoptosis. In addition, there was an inverse relationship between Dickkopf-3 (Dkk-3) and renal tubular β-catenin expression at these time points. In vitro, a similar trend in β-catenin expression was observed in human kidney-2 (HK-2) cells with acute (upregulation) and prolonged (downregulation) exposure to albumin. Induction of a proapoptotic phenotype by albumin was significantly enhanced by silencing β-catenin in HK-2 cells. Finally, Dkk-3 expression and secretion was increased after prolonged exposure to albumin, leading to the suppression of intracellular β-catenin signaling pathway. The effect of Dkk-3 on β-catenin signaling was confirmed by incubation with exogenous Dkk-3 in HK-2 cells. Taken together, these data suggest that downregulation of tubular β-catenin signaling induced by Dkk-3 has a detrimental role in chronic proteinuria, partially through the increase in apoptosis.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e2155 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Cell Death and Disease |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 24 Mar 2016 |
Scopus Subject Areas
- Medicine(all)
- Nephrology
- Immunology
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
- Cell Biology
- Cancer Research