Research Paper Volume 7, Issue 7 pp 486—499
Transgenic mice overexpressing glia maturation factor-β, an oxidative stress inducible gene, show premature aging due to Zmpste24 down-regulation
- 1 Clinical Nutrition and Internal Medicine, Kobe Women's University, Kobe 654–8585, Japan
- 2 Renal Division & Division of Interdisciplinary Medicine and Biotechnology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Received: April 28, 2015 Accepted: July 8, 2015 Published: July 13, 2015
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.100779How to Cite
Abstract
Glia Maturation Factor-β (GMF), a brain specific protein, is induced by proteinuria in renal tubules. Ectopic GMF overexpression causes apoptosis in vitro via cellular vulnerability to oxidative stress. In order to examine the roles of GMF in non-brain tissue, we constructed transgenic mice overexpressing GMF (GMF-TG). The GMF-TG mice exhibited appearance phenotypes associated with premature aging. The GMF-TG mice also demonstrated short lifespans and reduced hair regrowth, suggesting an accelerated aging process. The production of an abnormal lamin A, a nuclear envelope protein, plays a causal role in both normal aging and accelerated aging diseases, known as laminopathies. Importantly, we identified the abnormal lamin A (prelamin A), accompanied by a down-regulation of a lamin A processing enzyme (Zmpste24) in the kidney of the GMF-TG mice. The GMF-TG mice showed accelerated aging in the kidney, compared with wild-type mice, showing increased TGF-β1, CTGF gene and serum creatinine. The gene expression of p21/waf1 was increased at an earlier stage of life, at 10 weeks, which was in turn down-regulated at a later stage, at 60 weeks. In conclusion, we propose that GMF-TG mice might be a novel mouse model of accelerated aging, due to the abnormal lamin A.