Expression of HIV transgene aggravates kidney injury in diabetic mice

Kidney Int. 2013 Apr;83(4):626-34. doi: 10.1038/ki.2012.445. Epub 2013 Jan 16.

Abstract

With the widespread use of combination antiretroviral agents, the incidence of HIV-associated nephropathy has decreased. Currently, HIV-infected patients live much longer and often suffer from comorbidities such as diabetes mellitus. Recent epidemiological studies suggest that concurrent HIV infection and diabetes mellitus may have a synergistic effect on the incidence of chronic kidney disease. To address this, we determined whether HIV-1 transgene expression accelerates diabetic kidney injury using a diabetic HIV-1 transgenic (Tg26) murine model. Diabetes was initially induced with low-dose streptozotocin in both Tg26 and wild-type mice on a C57BL/6 background, which is resistant to classic HIV-associated nephropathy. Although diabetic nephropathy is minimally observed on the C57BL/6 background, diabetic Tg26 mice exhibited a significant increase in glomerular injury compared with nondiabetic Tg26 mice and diabetic wild-type mice. Validation of microarray gene expression analysis from isolated glomeruli showed a significant upregulation of proinflammatory pathways in diabetic Tg26 mice. Thus, our study found that expression of HIV-1 genes aggravates diabetic kidney disease.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Albuminuria / etiology
  • Albuminuria / genetics
  • Albuminuria / virology
  • Animals
  • Biomarkers / urine
  • Collagen Type IV / metabolism
  • Creatinine / urine
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / blood
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / complications*
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / immunology
  • Diabetic Nephropathies / etiology*
  • Diabetic Nephropathies / genetics
  • Diabetic Nephropathies / immunology
  • Diabetic Nephropathies / pathology
  • Diabetic Nephropathies / urine
  • Diabetic Nephropathies / virology
  • Disease Progression
  • Fibrosis
  • Fusion Proteins, gag-pol / genetics
  • Gene Expression Profiling / methods
  • HIV Infections / blood
  • HIV Infections / complications*
  • HIV Infections / genetics
  • HIV Infections / immunology
  • HIV Infections / virology
  • HIV-1 / genetics*
  • HIV-1 / immunology
  • Inflammation Mediators / blood
  • Kidney / immunology
  • Kidney / metabolism
  • Kidney / pathology
  • Kidney / virology*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
  • Phosphorylation
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Smad3 Protein / metabolism
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Collagen Type IV
  • Fusion Proteins, gag-pol
  • Inflammation Mediators
  • Smad3 Protein
  • Smad3 protein, mouse
  • Creatinine