Insufficient activity of MAPK pathway is a key monitor of Kidney-Yang Deficiency Syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the genetic characteristics and molecular regulator of Kidney-Yang Deficiency Syndrome (KDS).


METHODS
A typical KDS family was collected using a questionnaire of cold feeling and a 40-item scoring table of KDS based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), by single-blind method repeated annually over three years. Their transcriptomes were assayed by microarray and validated by RT-PCR and ELISA. Simultaneously, 10 healthy volunteers were recruited as controls and the same protocols were performed.


RESULTS
This typical KDS family has 35 members, of whom 11 were evaluated as having severe KDS and 6 as having common KDS. Results of the cDNA microarray revealed that there were 420 genes/expressed sequence tags differentially expressed in KDS transcriptomes, indicating a global functional impairment in the mass-energy-information carrying network of KDS patients, involving energy metabolism, signal transduction, development, cell cycle, and immunity. Pathway analysis by gene set enrichment assay (GSEA) and other tools demonstrated that mitogenic activated protein kinase (MAPK) is among the most insufficiently activated pathways, while the oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis pathways, the two main pathways relevant to ATP synthesis, were among the most excessively activated pathways in KDS patients. Results of RT-PCR and ELISA confirmed the status of insufficient activity of the MAPK pathway.


CONCLUSIONS
KDS patients undergo overall attenuated functions in the mass-energy-information carrying network. The marked low level of energy output in KDS may be primarily attributed to the insufficient activity of the MAPK pathway, which may be a key monitor for the abnormal energy metabolism and other impaired activities in KDS.
Ding
Wei Jun
WJ
Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China. Ding2004wj@yahoo.com.cn
Yan
Shi Lin
SL
Zeng
Ying Zi
YZ
Li
Wei Hong
WH
Duan
Azure
A
Zheng
Tian E
TE
Liu
Min
M
Tan
Cong E
CE
Teng
Xiaokun
X
Wan
Jennifer
J
D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000235:genetics*; D002681:China; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000235:genetics*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005943:Gluconeogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D006019:Glycolysis / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*; D020935:MAP Kinase Signaling System / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010085:Oxidative Phosphorylation; D010375:Pedigree; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D014554:Urination; D016711:Yang Deficiency / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases; D019950:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1