title: Advanced glycation end-products reduce podocyte adhesion by activating the renin-angiotensin system and increasing integrin-linked kinase.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) on podocyte adhesion and the underlying mechanisms. Immortalized mouse podocytes were exposed to various conditions and podocyte adhesion was evaluated using a hexosaminidase assay. The expression levels of integrin-linked kinase (ILK) were measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and western blotting. Treatment with AGEs resulted in a significant, concentration-dependent reduction in podocyte adhesion (P<0.05) and an incremental rise in ILK expression up to a maximum of 100%. Pretreatment with losartan significantly prevented the upregulation of ILK and attenuated the loss of podocyte adhesion observed in podocytes exposed to AGEs (P<0.05). However, the adhesion of losartan-treated podocytes remained lower than that of the podocytes exposed to bovine serum albumin. The results indicate that AGEs reduce podocyte adhesion via the upregulation of ILK expression, which occurs partly through activation of the renin-angiotensin system in podocytes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Cailian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Zhenda
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Chenggang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zengchun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Tanqi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lou
keywords: adhesion; advanced glycation end-products; integrin-linked kinase; podocyte