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Review
. 2022 Apr 29;13(5):796.
doi: 10.3390/genes13050796.

Recent Advances in Epigenetics of Age-Related Kidney Diseases

Feng Liu  1 , Jiefang Chen  2 , Zhenqiong Li  1 , Xianfang Meng  3
Affiliations
Review

Recent Advances in Epigenetics of Age-Related Kidney Diseases

Feng Liu et al. Genes (Basel). .

Abstract

Renal aging has attracted increasing attention in today's aging society, as elderly people with advanced age are more susceptible to various kidney disorders such as acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). There is no clear-cut universal mechanism for identifying age-related kidney diseases, and therefore, they pose a considerable medical and public health challenge. Epigenetics refers to the study of heritable modifications in the regulation of gene expression that do not require changes in the underlying genomic DNA sequence. A variety of epigenetic modifiers such as histone deacetylases (HDAC) inhibitors and DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitors have been proposed as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets in numerous fields including cardiovascular diseases, immune system disease, nervous system diseases, and neoplasms. Accumulating evidence in recent years indicates that epigenetic modifications have been implicated in renal aging. However, no previous systematic review has been performed to systematically generalize the relationship between epigenetics and age-related kidney diseases. In this review, we aim to summarize the recent advances in epigenetic mechanisms of age-related kidney diseases as well as discuss the application of epigenetic modifiers as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets in the field of age-related kidney diseases. In summary, the main types of epigenetic processes including DNA methylation, histone modifications, non-coding RNA (ncRNA) modulation have all been implicated in the progression of age-related kidney diseases, and therapeutic targeting of these processes will yield novel therapeutic strategies for the prevention and/or treatment of age-related kidney diseases.

Keywords: DNA methylation; age-related kidney diseases; epigenetics; histone modification; non-coding RNA regulation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic diagram of the main mechanisms and phenotype of renal aging. With increasing age, there are significant changes in both the function and structure of the kidney. Multiple age-related pathways contribute to altered renal outcomes in the elderly.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The epigenetic landscape mediates the interplay between etiologies and age-related renal dysfunctions. Both exogenous and endogenous etiologies can lead to changes in the epigenetic landscape that impact renal aging and physiology.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic diagram of the mechanisms of the main epigenetic alterations in age-related kidney diseases. Aberrant DNA methylation, abnormal histone modifications as well as regulation by ncRNAs are associated with age-related kidney diseases. These changes have been implicated in age-related kidney diseases through the alteration of certain genes expression in various kidney cells.
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Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China grants No. 81974162, No. 81671066 (to prof. X.M.).

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