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Kidney crosstalk in 2022

Molecular mechanisms of kidney crosstalk with distant organs

Nature Reviews Nephrology volume 19, pages 75–76 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Inter-organ interactions are critical for maintaining homeostasis in the body but can contribute to multi-organ dysfunction. Clinical evidence indicates that kidney dysfunction contributes to remote organ dysfunction, but little is known of the underlying mechanisms. Several reports published in 2022 identified critical mediators of kidney crosstalk with distant organs.

Key advances

  • Injured kidneys release osteopontin, which mediates lung inflammation and acute lung injury following acute kidney injury (kidney–lung crosstalk)1.

  • CCR2+ myeloid cells accumulate in the post-ischaemic kidney and produce inflammatory mediators that exacerbate aortic atherosclerotic lesions (kidney–vascular crosstalk)2.

  • Tryptophan-derived uraemic solutes suppress endothelial Wnt signalling and impair post-ischaemic angiogenic responses (kidney–vascular crosstalk)3.

  • Intestinal barrier dysfunction and inflammation contribute to the development of diabetic kidney disease (kidney–gut crosstalk)4.

  • Disruption of the peripheral circadian rhythm is intricately involved in the development of parathyroid hyperplasia in chronic kidney disease (kidney–parathyroid crosstalk)5.

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Fig. 1: Molecular mechanisms of kidney–distant organ crosstalk.

References

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Acknowledgements

This authors’ work was supported by a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists (21K16159 to S.H.), a JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (21H02824 to R.I.), and Kyowa Kirin (to R.I.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of CKD Pathophysiology, The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Sho Hasegawa & Reiko Inagi

  2. Division of Nephrology and Endocrinology, The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Sho Hasegawa

Authors
  1. Sho Hasegawa
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  2. Reiko Inagi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Reiko Inagi.

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Competing interests

S.H. and R.I. work at the Division of CKD Pathophysiology at The University of Tokyo, which is financially supported by Kyowa-Kirin Co. Ltd.

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Hasegawa, S., Inagi, R. Molecular mechanisms of kidney crosstalk with distant organs. Nat Rev Nephrol 19, 75–76 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41581-022-00655-z

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