Summary: | Angiotensin II (AngII), the major effector of the renin angiotensin system, mediates kidney disease progression by signalling through AT-1 receptor (AT-1R), but there are no specific measures of renal AngII activity. Accordingly, we sought to define an AngII-regulated proteome in primary human proximal tubular cells (PTEC) in order to identify potential AngII activity markers in the kidney. We utilized stable isotope labelling with amino acids (SILAC) in PTECs to compare proteomes of AngII-treated and control cells. Of 4618 quantified proteins, 83 were differentially regulated. SILAC ratios for 18 candidates were confirmed by Selected Reaction Monitoring (SRM) assays. Both SILAC and SRM revealed the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related 2 (Nrf2) target protein, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) as the most significantly upregulated protein in response to AngII stimulation. AngII-dependent regulation of HO-1 gene and protein was further verified by qRT-PCR and ELISA in PTECs. In order to extend these in vitro observations, we utilized a systems biology approach. We thus overlaid a network of significantly enriched gene ontology (GO) terms from our AngII-regulated proteins with a dataset of differentially expressed kidney genes from AngII-treated wild type mice and AT-1R knock-out mice. Five GO terms were enriched both in vitro and in vivo, and all included HO-1. Furthermore, four additional Nrf2 target proteins were functionally important in vitro and in vivo. We then studied HO-1 kidney expression and urinary excretion in AngII-treated wild type mice and mice with PTEC-specific AT-1R gene deletion. Deletion of the AT-1R gene in PTECs lowered both kidney expression and urine excretion of HO-1, confirming AngII/AT-1R mediated regulation of HO-1. In summary, our in vitro experiments identified novel molecular markers of AngII activity in PTECs and the animal studies demonstrated that these markers also reflect AngII activity in PTECs in vivo. These interesting proteins hold promise as specific markers of renal AngII activity in patients and in experimental models.
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