1-Indanone retards cyst development in ADPKD mouse model by stabilizing tubulin and down-regulating anterograde transport of cilia.

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is the most common inherited kidney disease. Cyst development in ADPKD involves abnormal epithelial cell proliferation, which is affected by the primary cilia-mediated signal transduction in the epithelial cells. Thus, primary cilium has been considered as a therapeutic target for ADPKD. Since ADPKD exhibits many pathological features similar to solid tumors, we investigated whether targeting primary cilia using anti-tumor agents could alleviate the development of ADPKD. Twenty-four natural compounds with anti-tumor activity were screened in MDCK cyst model, and 1-Indanone displayed notable inhibition on renal cyst growth without cytotoxicity. This compound also inhibited cyst development in embryonic kidney cyst model. In neonatal kidney-specific Pkd1 knockout mice, 1-Indanone remarkably slowed down kidney enlargement and cyst expansion. Furthermore, we demonstrated that 1-Indanone inhibited the abnormal elongation of cystic epithelial cilia by promoting tubulin polymerization and significantly down-regulating expression of anterograde transport motor protein KIF3A and IFT88. Moreover, we found that 1-Indanone significantly down-regulated ciliary coordinated Wnt/ß-catenin, Hedgehog signaling pathways. These results demonstrate that 1-Indanone inhibits cystic cell proliferation by reducing abnormally prolonged cilia length in cystic epithelial cells, suggesting that 1-Indanone may hold therapeutic potential to retard cyst development in ADPKD.

Ganoderic acid hinders renal fibrosis via suppressing the TGF-ß/Smad and MAPK signaling pathways.

Renal fibrosis is considered as the pathway of almost all kinds of chronic kidney diseases (CKD) to the end stage of renal diseases (ESRD). Ganoderic acid (GA) is a group of lanostane triterpenes isolated from Ganoderma lucidum, which has shown a variety of pharmacological activities. In this study we investigated whether GA exerted antirenal fibrosis effect in a unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) mouse model. After UUO surgery, the mice were treated with GA (3.125, 12.5, and 50 mg· kg-1 ·d-1, ip) for 7 or 14 days. Then the mice were sacrificed for collecting blood and kidneys. We showed that GA treatment dose-dependently attenuated UUO-induced tubular injury and renal fibrosis; GA (50 mg· kg-1 ·d-1) significantly ameliorated renal disfunction during fibrosis progression. We further revealed that GA treatment inhibited the extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition in the kidney by suppressing the expression of fibronectin, mainly through hindering the over activation of TGF-ß/Smad signaling. On the other hand, GA treatment significantly decreased the expression of mesenchymal cell markers alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and vimentin, and upregulated E-cadherin expression in the kidney, suggesting the suppression of tubular epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) partially via inhibiting both TGF-ß/Smad and MAPK (ERK, JNK, p38) signaling pathways. The inhibitory effects of GA on TGF-ß/Smad and MAPK signaling pathways were confirmed in TGF-ß1-stimulated HK-2 cell model. GA-A, a GA monomer, was identified as a potent inhibitor on renal fibrosis in vitro. These data demonstrate that GA or GA-A might be developed as a potential therapeutic agent in the treatment of renal fibrosis.

Ganoderic acid A is the effective ingredient of Ganoderma triterpenes in retarding renal cyst development in polycystic kidney disease.

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is one of the most common life-threatening monogenetic diseases characterized by progressive enlargement of fluid-filled renal cysts. Our previous study has shown that Ganoderma triterpenes (GT) retards PKD renal cyst development. In the present study we identified the effective ingredient of GT in suppression of kidney cyst development. Using an in vitro MDCK cystogenesis model, we identified ganoderic acid A (GA-A) as the most promising candidate among the 12 ganoderic acid (GA) monomers. We further showed that GA-A (6.25-100 µM) significantly inhibited cyst growth in MDCK cyst model and embryonic kidney cyst model in vitro, and the inhibitory effect was reversible. In kidney-specific Pkd1 knockout (kPKD) mice displaying severe cystic kidney disease, administration of GA-A (50 mg· kg-1 ·d-1, sc) significantly attenuated renal cyst development. In both MDCK cells and kidney of kPKD mice, we revealed that GA-A dose-dependently downregulated the Ras/MAPK signaling pathway. The expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was also suppressed, suggesting a possible effect of GA-A on cell proliferation. These experimental data suggest that GA-A may be the main ingredient of GT as a potential therapeutic reagent for treating ADPKD.

[The clinical features of myasthenia gravis affecting nonskeleton muscles].

OBJECTIVE: To propose a method for diagnosis and differential diagnosis of myasthenia gravis (MG) with heart and liver injury, anisocoria, dysacusis, impatience etc. METHODS: (1) Before and after administering cholinesterase inhibitor and immune therapy, 55 patients with MG were re-examined for heart and liver and followed up. (2) 1 mg neostigmine was injected to the MG patients with anisocoria and dysacusis, the symptoms were observed and brainstem auditory evoked potential was performed before and after 30 minutes and 2 hours. RESULTS: With the relaxation of muscular weakness and fatigability distinctive of MG, other special symptoms will improve and no further special therapy is needed. CONCLUSIONS: MG is an autoimmune disease mediated by auto-antibodies that attack the acetylcholine receptors not only at the skeletal muscle, but also at many other organs such as heart, liver, hearing apparatus pupillary sphincters and genitals. With the relaxation of muscular weakness, these symptoms will improve. The effect of administering cholinesterase inhibitors is the key point of differential diagnosis.