Theranostics 2020; 10(23):10415-10433. doi:10.7150/thno.49603 This issue Cite
Research Paper
1. Department of Cardiology, The Eighth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518033, China.
2. Department of Pathophysiology, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China.
3. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Department of Cardiology, RNA Biomedical Institute, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510120, China.
4. Department of Cardiology, Laboratory of Heart Center, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510280, China.
5. Key Laboratory of Nephrology, National Health Commission and Guangdong Province, Department of Nephrology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, Chinaa.
6. Department of Pathology, Zhujiang Hospitial, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510282, China.
7. Institute of Hypertension, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China.
#These authors contributed equally to this work.
Background: Chronic kidney diseases (CKD) are usually associated with dyslipidemia. Statin therapy has been primarily recommended for the prevention of cardiovascular risk in patients with CKD; however, the effects of statins on kidney disease progression remain controversial. This study aims to investigate the effects of statin treatment on renal handling of water in patients and in animals on a high-fat diet.
Methods: Retrospective cohort patient data were reviewed and the protein expression levels of aquaporin-2 (AQP2) and NLRP3 inflammasome adaptor ASC were examined in kidney biopsy specimens. The effects of statins on AQP2 and NLRP3 inflammasome components were examined in nlrp3-/- mice, 5/6 nephroectomized (5/6Nx) rats with a high-fat diet (HFD), and in vitro.
Results: In the retrospective cohort study, serum cholesterol was negatively correlated to eGFR and AQP2 protein expression in the kidney biopsy specimens. Statins exhibited no effect on eGFR but abolished the negative correlation between cholesterol and AQP2 expression. Whilst nlrp3+/+ mice showed an increased urine output and a decreased expression of AQP2 protein after a HFD, which was moderately attenuated in nlrp3 deletion mice with HFD. In 5/6Nx rats on a HFD, atorvastatin markedly decreased the urine output and upregulated the protein expression of AQP2. Cholesterol stimulated the protein expression of NLRP3 inflammasome components ASC, caspase-1 and IL-1β, and decreased AQP2 protein abundance in vitro, which was markedly prevented by statins, likely through the enhancement of ASC speck degradation via autophagy.
Conclusion: Serum cholesterol level has a negative correlation with AQP2 protein expression in the kidney biopsy specimens of patients. Statins can ameliorate cholesterol-induced inflammation by promoting the degradation of ASC speck, and improve the expression of aquaporin in the kidneys of animals on a HFD.
Keywords: cholesterol, statins, AQP2, IL-1β, ASC