Journal
CELLS
Volume 11, Issue 21, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/cells11213505
Keywords
chronic kidney diseases; renal fibrosis; MK-2206; Akt; mTOR signaling pathway
Categories
Funding
- Basic Research and Frontier Exploration Project of Yuzhong District of Chongqing [20200126]
- Program for Youth Innovation in Future Medicine, Chongqing Medical University [W0056]
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders [GBRP-202109]
- Chongqing Science and Health Joint TCM Technology Innovation and Application Development Project [2020ZY023877]
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This study explores the potential mechanism of a targeted drug, MK-2206, for improving renal fibrosis. It shows that MK-2206 effectively improves the pathological structure of the kidney and inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition, fibroblast activation, and extracellular matrix deposition through the inhibition of the Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.
Renal fibrosis is a common pathological feature of various kidney diseases, leading to irreversible renal failure and end-stage renal disease. However, there are still no effective treatments to reverse renal fibrosis. This study aimed to explore the potential mechanism of a targeted drug for fibrosis. Here, unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO)-treated mice and a TGF-beta 1-treated human renal tubular epithelial cell line (HK-2 cells) were used as models of renal fibrosis. Based on the changes of mRNA in UUO kidneys detected by transcriptome sequencing, MK-2206, an Akt inhibitor, was predicted as a potential drug to alleviate renal fibrosis through bioinformatics. We dissolved UUO mice with MK-2206 by gastric gavage and cultured TGF-beta-induced HK-2 cells with MK-2206. Histopathological examinations were performed after MK-2206 intervention, and the degree of renal fibrosis, as well as the expression of Akt/mTOR pathway-related proteins, were evaluated by immunohistochemical staining, immunofluorescence staining, and Western blot. The results showed that MK-2206 significantly improved the pathological structure of the kidney. Furthermore, MK-2206 intervention effectively inhibited UUO- and TGF-beta 1-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition, fibroblast activation, and extracellular matrix deposition. Mechanistically, MK-2206 treatment attenuated the activation of the Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Taken together, our study revealed for the first time that MK-2206 is a promising drug for the improvement of renal fibrosis.
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