Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 21 pp 9875—9892
Promising therapeutic effect of thapsigargin nanoparticles on chronic kidney disease through the activation of Nrf2 and FoxO1
- 1 Department of Chemistry, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan
- 2 Department of Cosmeceutics, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan
- 3 Department of Food Safety/Hygiene and Risk Management, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
- 4 Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, New Taipei City, Taiwan
- 5 Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
- 6 Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
Received: August 18, 2019 Accepted: October 29, 2019 Published: November 12, 2019
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.102437How to Cite
Copyright © 2019 Cheng et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Pathophysiological states cause misfolded protein accumulation in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Then, ER stress and the unfolded protein response (UPR) are activated. Targeting ER stress may enhance the adaptive UPR and then protect the cell against pathogenic environments. In the present study, we utilized nanotechnology to synthesize thapsigargin nanoparticles (TG NPs) which induced ER stress and the UPR pathway, to study the role of ER stress and autophagy in chronic kidney disease (CKD). We found that the mRNA levels of ER stress- and autophagy-related molecules were elevated in the renal tissue of CKD patients compared to those of healthy individuals. Furthermore, TG NPs induced the UPR pathway and autophagy in HK-2 human kidney tubular epithelial cells. TG NPs protected HK-2 cells against oxidative stress-induced cell death through the activation of Nrf2 and FoxO1. The siRNA-mediated inhibition of Nrf2 or FoxO1 resulted in enhanced oxidative stress-induced cytotoxicity in HK-2 cells. In a mouse model of adenine diet-induced CKD, TG NPs and KIM-1-TG NPs ameliorated renal injury through the stimulation of ER stress and its downstream pathways. Our findings suggest that the induction of ER stress using pharmacological agents may offer a promising therapeutic strategy for preventing or interfering with CKD progression.