Exosomes and the kidney: Blaming the messenger

Exosomes are membrane-bound vesicles of endosomal origin, present in awide range of biological fluids, including blood and urine. They rangebetween 30 and 100 nm in diameter, and consist of a limiting lipid bilayer,transmembrane proteins and a hydrophilic core containing proteins,mRNAs and microRNAs (miRNA). Exosomes can act as extracellular vehi-cles by which cells communicate, through the delivery of their functionalcargo to recipient cells, with many important biological, physiologicaland pathological implications. The exosome release pathway contributestowards protein secretion, antigen presentation, pathogen transfer andcancer progression. Exosomes and exosome-mediated signalling have beenimplicated in disease processes such as atherosclerosis, calcification andkidney diseases. Circulating levels of exosomes and extracellular vesicles canbe influenced by the progression of renal disease. Advances in methods forpurification and analysis of exosomes are leading to potential diagnostic andtherapeutic avenues for kidney diseases. This review will focus on biophysi-cal properties and biogenesis of exosomes, their pathophysiological rolesand their potential as biomarkers and therapeutics in kidney diseases

The VHL-dependent regulation of microRNAs in renal cancer

Extent: 17p.Background The commonest histological type of renal cancer, clear cell renal cell carcinoma (cc RCC), is associated with genetic and epigenetic changes in the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumour suppressor. VHL inactivation leads to induction of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) and a hypoxic pattern of gene expression. Differential levels of specific microRNAs (miRNAs) are observed in several tumours when compared to normal tissue. Given the central role of VHL in renal cancer formation, we examined the VHL-dependent regulation of miRNAs in renal cancer. Methods VHL-dependent miRNA expression in cc RCC was determined by microarray analysis of renal cell line RCC4 with mutated VHL (RCC4-VHL) and reintroduced wild-type VHL (RCC4 + VHL). Five miRNAs highly upregulated in RCC4 + VHL and five miRNAs highly downregulated in RCC4 + VHL were studied further, in addition to miR-210, which is regulated by the HIF-VHL system. miRNA expression was also measured in 31 cc RCC tumours compared to adjacent normal tissue. Results A significant increase in miR-210, miR-155 and miR-21 expression was observed in the tumour tissue. miR-210 levels also showed a correlation with a HIF-regulated mRNA, carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX), and with VHL mutation or promoter methylation. An inverse correlation was observed between miR-210 expression and patient survival, and a putative target of miR-210, iron-sulfur cluster assembly protein (ISCU1/2), shows reciprocal levels of mRNA expression in the tumours. Conclusions We have identified VHL-regulated miRNAs and found that for some the regulation is HIF-dependent and for others it is HIF-independent. This pattern of regulation was also seen in renal cancer tissue for several of these miRNAs (miR-210, miR-155, let-7i and members of the miR-17-92 cluster) when compared with normal tissue. miR-210 showed marked increases in expression in renal cancer and levels correlated with patient survival. The inverse correlation between miR-210 levels and ISCU1/2 provides support for the hypothesis that ISCU1/2 is a target of miR-210 and that it may contribute to the anaerobic respiration seen in renal (and other) tumours.Calida S Neal, Michael Z Michael, Lesley H Rawlings, Mark B Van der Hoek and Jonathan M Gleadl

SSeCKS/Gravin/AKAP12 attenuates expression of proliferative and angiogenic genes during suppression of v-Src-induced oncogenesis

BACKGROUND: SSeCKS is a major protein kinase C substrate with kinase scaffolding and metastasis-suppressor activity whose expression is severely downregulated in Src- and Ras-transformed fibroblast and epithelial cells and in human prostate, breast, and gastric cancers. We previously used NIH3T3 cells with tetracycline-regulated SSeCKS expression plus a temperature-sensitive v-Src allele to show that SSeCKS re-expression inhibited parameters of v-Src-induced oncogenic growth without attenuating in vivo Src kinase activity. METHODS: We use cDNA microarrays and semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis to identify changes in gene expression correlating with i) SSeCKS expression in the absence of v-Src activity, ii) activation of v-Src activity alone, and iii) SSeCKS re-expression in the presence of active v-Src. RESULTS: SSeCKS re-expression resulted in the attenuation of critical Src-induced proliferative and pro-angiogenic gene expression including Afp, Hif-1α, Cdc20a and Pdgfr-β, and conversely, SSeCKS induced several cell cycle regulatory genes such as Ptpn11, Gadd45a, Ptplad1, Cdkn2d (p19), and Rbbp7. CONCLUSION: Our data provide further evidence that SSeCKS can suppress Src-induced oncogenesis by modulating gene expression downstream of Src kinase activity

‘In vivo’ optical approaches to angiogenesis imaging

In recent years, molecular imaging gained significant importance in biomedical research. Optical imaging developed into a modality which enables the visualization and quantification of all kinds of cellular processes and cancerous cell growth in small animals. Novel gene reporter mice and cell lines and the development of targeted and cleavable fluorescent “smart” probes form a powerful imaging toolbox. The development of systems collecting tomographic bioluminescence and fluorescence data enabled even more spatial accuracy and more quantitative measurements. Here we describe various bioluminescent and fluorescent gene reporter models and probes that can be used to specifically image and quantify neovascularization or the angiogenic process itself

Human malarial disease: a consequence of inflammatory cytokine release

Malaria causes an acute systemic human disease that bears many similarities, both clinically and mechanistically, to those caused by bacteria, rickettsia, and viruses. Over the past few decades, a literature has emerged that argues for most of the pathology seen in all of these infectious diseases being explained by activation of the inflammatory system, with the balance between the pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines being tipped towards the onset of systemic inflammation. Although not often expressed in energy terms, there is, when reduced to biochemical essentials, wide agreement that infection with falciparum malaria is often fatal because mitochondria are unable to generate enough ATP to maintain normal cellular function. Most, however, would contend that this largely occurs because sequestered parasitized red cells prevent sufficient oxygen getting to where it is needed. This review considers the evidence that an equally or more important way ATP deficency arises in malaria, as well as these other infectious diseases, is an inability of mitochondria, through the effects of inflammatory cytokines on their function, to utilise available oxygen. This activity of these cytokines, plus their capacity to control the pathways through which oxygen supply to mitochondria are restricted (particularly through directing sequestration and driving anaemia), combine to make falciparum malaria primarily an inflammatory cytokine-driven disease

Hypoxia and the regulation of gene expression.

The optimal delivery of oxygen to tissues is essential both to ensure adequate energy provision and to avoid the toxic effects of higher oxygen concentrations. For this to occur, organisms must be able to sense oxygen and respond to changes in oxygen tension by altering gene expression. The analysis of the regulation of erythropoiesis has provided important insights into the mechanisms of oxygen-regulated gene expression. These mechanisms have a role in the regulation of many genes, in many cell types and appear to be of relevance to many common pathologies in which disturbances of oxygen supply are central

Induction of hypoxia-inducible factor-1, erythropoietin, vascular endothelial growth factor, and glucose transporter-1 by hypoxia: evidence against a regulatory role for Src kinase.

The induction by hypoxia of genes such as erythropoietin, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and glucose transporter-1 (Glut-1) is mediated in part by a transcriptional complex termed hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1). Several lines of evidence have implicated protein phosphorylation in the mechanism of activation of HIF-1 by hypoxia. Recent reports have described the activation of the tyrosine kinase src by severe hypoxia, and a role in the induction of VEGF by severe hypoxia has been proposed. This led us to examine whether src and related kinases operated more widely in the hypoxic induction of HIF-1 and HIF-1-dependent genes regulated by hypoxia. Measurements of src kinase activity in cells exposed to varying severities of hypoxia showed activation by severe hypoxia (0.1% oxygen or catalyst induced anoxia), but not 1% oxygen. This contrasted with the marked induction of HIF-1 by exposure to 1% oxygen. Manipulations of src activity were produced by transient and stable transfection of Hep3B cells. Despite substantial changes in src activity, no alteration was seen in the normoxic or hypoxic expression of erythropoietin, VEGF, or Glut-1, or in the regulation of HIF-1-dependent reporter genes inducible by hypoxia. Similarly, we found that the expression of these genes in src- or c-src kinase-deficient cells did not differ from wild-type cells at either 1% oxygen or more severe hypoxia. These results indicate that src is not critical for the hypoxic induction of HIF-1, erythropoietin, VEGF, or Glut-1