Autophagy increases the lifespan of model organisms; however, its role in promoting mammalian longevity is less well-established
. Here we report lifespan and healthspan extension in a mouse model ...with increased basal autophagy. To determine the effects of constitutively increased autophagy on mammalian health, we generated targeted mutant mice with a Phe121Ala mutation in beclin 1 (Becn1
) that decreases its interaction with the negative regulator BCL2. We demonstrate that the interaction between beclin 1 and BCL2 is disrupted in several tissues in Becn1
knock-in mice in association with higher levels of basal autophagic flux. Compared to wild-type littermates, the lifespan of both male and female knock-in mice is significantly increased. The healthspan of the knock-in mice also improves, as phenotypes such as age-related renal and cardiac pathological changes and spontaneous tumorigenesis are diminished. Moreover, mice deficient in the anti-ageing protein klotho
have increased beclin 1 and BCL2 interaction and decreased autophagy. These phenotypes, along with premature lethality and infertility, are rescued by the beclin 1(F121A) mutation. Together, our data demonstrate that disruption of the beclin 1-BCL2 complex is an effective mechanism to increase autophagy, prevent premature ageing, improve healthspan and promote longevity in mammals.
Soft-tissue calcification is a prominent feature in both chronic kidney disease (CKD) and experimental Klotho deficiency, but whether Klotho deficiency is responsible for the calcification in CKD is ...unknown. Here, wild-type mice with CKD had very low renal, plasma, and urinary levels of Klotho. In humans, we observed a graded reduction in urinary Klotho starting at an early stage of CKD and progressing with loss of renal function. Despite induction of CKD, transgenic mice that overexpressed Klotho had preserved levels of Klotho, enhanced phosphaturia, better renal function, and much less calcification compared with wild-type mice with CKD. Conversely, Klotho-haploinsufficient mice with CKD had undetectable levels of Klotho, worse renal function, and severe calcification. The beneficial effect of Klotho on vascular calcification was a result of more than its effect on renal function and phosphatemia, suggesting a direct effect of Klotho on the vasculature. In vitro, Klotho suppressed Na(+)-dependent uptake of phosphate and mineralization induced by high phosphate and preserved differentiation in vascular smooth muscle cells. In summary, Klotho is an early biomarker for CKD, and Klotho deficiency contributes to soft-tissue calcification in CKD. Klotho ameliorates vascular calcification by enhancing phosphaturia, preserving glomerular filtration, and directly inhibiting phosphate uptake by vascular smooth muscle. Replacement of Klotho may have therapeutic potential for CKD.
Klotho is an antiaging substance with pleiotropic actions including regulation of mineral metabolism. It is highly expressed in the kidney and is present in the circulation and urine but its role in ...acute kidney injury (AKI) is unknown. We found that ischemia–reperfusion injury (IRI) in rodents reduced Klotho in the kidneys, urine, and blood, all of which were restored upon recovery. Reduction in kidney and plasma Klotho levels were earlier than that of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), a known biomarker of kidney injury. Patients with AKI were found to have drastic reductions in urinary Klotho. To examine whether Klotho has a pathogenic role, we induced IRI in mice with different endogenous Klotho levels ranging from heterozygous Klotho haploinsufficient, to wild-type (WT), to transgenic mice overexpressing Klotho. Klotho levels in AKI were lower in haploinsufficient and higher in transgenic compared with WT mice. The haploinsufficient mice had more extensive functional and histological alterations compared with WT mice, whereas these changes were milder in overexpressing transgenic mice, implying that Klotho is renoprotective. Rats with AKI given recombinant Klotho had higher Klotho protein, less kidney damage, and lower NGAL than rats with AKI given vehicle. Hence, AKI is a state of acute reversible Klotho deficiency, low Klotho exacerbates kidney injury and its restoration attenuates renal damage and promotes recovery from AKI. Thus, endogenous Klotho not only serves as an early biomarker for AKI but also functions as a renoprotective factor with therapeutic potential.
Autophagy regulator beclin 1 activity determines the severity of kidney damage induced by ischemia reperfusion injury, but its role in kidney recovery and fibrosis are unknown and its therapeutic ...potentials have not been tested. Here, we explored beclin 1 effects on kidney fibrosis in three models of acute kidney injury (AKI)—ischemia reperfusion injury, cisplatin kidney toxicity, and unilateral ureteric obstruction in mouse strains with three levels of beclin 1 function: normal (wild type), low (heterozygous global deletion of beclin 1, Becn1+/−), and high beclin 1 activity (knockin gain-of-function mutant Becn1, Becn1FA). Fourteen days after AKI induction, heterozygous mice had more, but knockin mice had less kidney fibrosis than wild-type mice did. One day after ischemia reperfusion injury, heterozygous pan-kidney tubular Becn1 null mice had more severe kidney damage than homozygous distal tubular Becn1 null mice did, which was similar to the wild-type mice, implying that proximal tubular beclin 1 protects the kidney against ischemia reperfusion injury. By 14 days, both pan-kidney heterozygous Becn1 null and distal tubular homozygous Becn1 null mice had poorer kidney recovery than wild-type mice did. Injection of beclin 1 peptides increased cell proliferation in kidney tubules in normal mice. Beclin 1 peptides injection either before or after (2–5 days) ischemia reperfusion injury protected the kidney from injury and suppressed kidney fibrosis. Thus, both endogenous beclin 1 protein expression in kidney tubules and exogenous beclin 1 peptides are kidney protective via attenuation of acute kidney damage, promotion of cell proliferation, and inhibition of kidney fibrosis, consequently improving kidney recovery post-AKI. Hence, exogenous beclin 1 peptide may be a potential new therapy for AKI.
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Cisplatin (CP)-induced nephrotoxicity is widely accepted as a model for acute kidney injury (AKI). Although cisplatin-induced chronic kidney disease (CKD) in rodent has been reported, the role of ...phosphate in the cisplatin-induced CKD progression is not described. In this study, we gave a single peritoneal injection of CP followed by high (2%) phosphate diet for 20 weeks. High dose CP (20 mg/Kg) led to high mortality; whereas a lower dose (10 mg/Kg) resulted in a full spectrum of AKI with tubular necrosis, azotemia, and 0% mortality 7 days after CP injection. After consuming a high phosphate diet, mice developed CKD characterized by low creatinine clearance, interstitial fibrosis, hyperphosphatemia, high plasma PTH and FGF23, low plasma 1,25(OH)2 Vitamin D3 and αKlotho, and classic uremic cardiovasculopathy. The CP model was robust in demonstrating the effect of aging, sexual dimorphism, and dietary phosphate on AKI and also AKI-to-CKD progression. Finally, we used the CP-high phosphate model to examine previously validated methods of genetically manipulated high αKlotho and therapy using exogenous soluble αKlotho protein supplementation. In this CP CKD model, αKlotho mitigated CKD progression, improved mineral homeostasis, and ameliorated cardiovascular disease. Taken together, CP and high phosphate nephrotoxicity is a reproducible and technically very simple model for the study of AKI, AKI-to-CKD progression, extrarenal complications of CKD, and for evaluation of therapeutic efficacy.
A high phosphate diet accelerates cisplatin–induced acute kidney injury (AKI) progression to chronic kidney disease (CKD). Aging, male gender, and Klotho deficiency exacerbate and Klotho administration mitigates CKD progression, mineral disorders, and cardiovasculopathy. This is a technically simple model to study AKI-to-CKD transition, complications of CKD, and potential therapies.
Klotho- and beclin 1-driven autophagy extends life. We examined the role of beclin 1 in modifying acute kidney injury (AKI) and whether beclin 1 mediates Klotho's known renoprotective action in AKI. ...AKI was induced by ischemia-reperfusion injury in mice with different levels of autophagy activity by genetic manipulation: wild-type (WT) mice with normal beclin 1 expression and function, mice with normal beclin 1 levels but high activity through knockin of gain-of-function mutant beclin 1 (
), mice with low beclin 1 levels and activity caused by heterozygous global deletion of beclin 1 (
), or mice with extremely low beclin 1 activity from knockin of the mutant constitutively active beclin 1 inhibitor Bcl-2 (
). Klotho was increased by transgenic overexpression (
) or recombinant Klotho protein administration. After ischemia-reperfusion injury,
mice (high autophagy) had milder AKI and
and
mice (low autophagy) had more severe AKI than WT mice.
mice had milder AKI, but its renoprotection was partially attenuated in
mice and was significantly reduced, although not completely abolished, in
mice. Recombinant Klotho protein conferred more renoprotection from AKI in WT mice than in
or
mice. Klotho reduced beclin 1/Bcl-2 protein complexes and increased autophagy activity, but this effect was less prominent in mice or cells with
. Transfected Bcl2
or Becn1
decreased or increased autophagy activity and rendered cells more susceptible or more resistant to oxidative cytotoxicity, respectively. In conclusion, beclin 1 confers renoprotection by activating autophagy. Klotho protects the kidney partially via disruption of beclin 1/Bcl-2 interactions and enhancement of autophagy activity.
Cardiac dysfunction in CKD is characterized by aberrant cardiac remodeling with hypertrophy and fibrosis. CKD is a state of severe systemic Klotho deficiency, and restoration of Klotho attenuates ...vascular calcification associated with CKD. We examined the role of Klotho in cardiac remodeling in models of Klotho deficiency-genetic Klotho hypomorphism, high dietary phosphate intake, aging, and CKD. Klotho-deficient mice exhibited cardiac dysfunction and hypertrophy before 12 weeks of age followed by fibrosis. In wild-type mice, the induction of CKD led to severe cardiovascular changes not observed in control mice. Notably, non-CKD mice fed a high-phosphate diet had lower Klotho levels and greatly accelerated cardiac remodeling associated with normal aging compared with those on a normal diet. Chronic elevation of circulating Klotho because of global overexpression alleviated the cardiac remodeling induced by either high-phosphate diet or CKD. Regardless of the cause of Klotho deficiency, the extent of cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis correlated tightly with plasma phosphate concentration and inversely with plasma Klotho concentration, even when adjusted for all other covariables. High-fibroblast growth factor-23 concentration positively correlated with cardiac remodeling in a Klotho-deficient state but not a Klotho-replete state. In vitro, Klotho inhibited TGF-β1-, angiotensin II-, or high phosphate-induced fibrosis and abolished TGF-β1- or angiotensin II-induced hypertrophy of cardiomyocytes. In conclusion, Klotho deficiency is a novel intermediate mediator of pathologic cardiac remodeling, and fibroblast growth factor-23 may contribute to cardiac remodeling in concert with Klotho deficiency in CKD, phosphotoxicity, and aging.
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition in renal tubular epithelial cells are critical to diabetic nephropathy (DN) pathogenesis, but the underlying ...mechanisms remain undefined. Bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP-7) inhibits EMT and ECM accumulation in renal tubular epithelial cells cultured in presence of high glucose. Meanwhile, miRNA-21 (miR-21) downregulates Smad7, promoting EMT and ECM deposition. However, the association of BMP-7 with miR-21/Smad7 in DN is unknown. Here, NRK-52E cells incubated in presence of high glucose and STZ-induced C57BL diabetic mice were considered in vitro and in vivo models of DN, respectively. In both models, BMP-7 (mRNA/protein) amounts were decreased as well as Smad7 protein expression, while miR-21 expression and TGF-β1/Smad3 pathway activation were enhanced, accompanied by enhanced EMT and ECM deposition. Further, addition of BMP-7 human recombinant cytokine (rhBMP-7) and injection of the BMP-7 overexpression plasmid in diabetic mice markedly downregulated miR-21 and upregulated Smad7, reduced Smad3 activation without affecting TGF-β1 amounts, and prevented EMT and ECM accumulation. MiR-21 overexpression in the in vitro model downregulated Smad7, promoted EMT and ECM accumulation without affecting BMP-7 amounts, and miR-21 downregulation reversed it. By interfering with BMP-7 and miR-21 expression in high glucose conditions, miR-21 amounts and Smad3 phosphorylation were further decreased. Smad7 was then upregulated, and EMT and ECM deposition were inhibited; these effects were reversed after miR-21 overexpression. These findings suggest that BMP-7 decreases renal fibrosis in DN by regulating miR-21/Smad7 signaling, providing a theoretical basis for the development of novel and effective therapeutic drugs for DN.
Klotho has profound effects on phosphate metabolism, but the mechanisms of how Klotho affects phosphate homeostasis is unknown. We detected Klotho in the proximal tubule cell, brush border, and ...urinary lumen, where phosphate homeostasis resides. Increasing Klotho in the kidney and urine chronically by transgenic overexpression or acutely by intravenous infusion caused hypophosphatemia, phosphaturia from decreased proximal phosphate reabsorption, and decreased activity and protein of the principal renal phosphate transporter NaPi-2a. The phosphaturic effect was present in FGF23-null mice, indicating a direct action distinct from Klotho's known role as a coreceptor for FGF23. Direct inhibition of NaPi-2a by Klotho was confirmed in cultured cells and in cell-free membrane vesicles characterized by acute inhibition of transport activity followed by decreased cell surface protein. Transport inhibition can be mimicked by recombinant β-glucuronidase and is associated with proteolytic degradation and reduced surface NaPi-2a. The inhibitory effect of Klotho on NaPi-2a was blocked by β-glucuronidase inhibitor but not by protease inhibitor. Klotho is a novel phosphaturic substance that acts as an enzyme in the proximal tubule urinary lumen by modifying glycans, which cause decreased transporter activity, followed by proteolytic degradation and possibly internalization of NaPi-2a from the apical membrane.--Hu, M. C., Shi, M., Zhang, J., Pastor, J., Nakatani, T., Lanske, B., Shawkat Razzaque, M., Rosenblatt, K. P., Baum, M. G., Kuro-o, M., Moe, O. W. Klotho: a novel phosphaturic substance acting as an autocrine enzyme in the renal proximal tubule.
Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) signaling has been shown to play a critical role in the development of diabetic nephropathy (DN). The nuclear transcription co-repressor Ski-related novel ...protein N (SnoN) is an important negative regulator of TGF-β1/Smad signal transduction, and subsequent biological responses including tubule epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), extracellular matrix accumulation and tubulointerstitial fibrosis. Oxymatrine (OM) is an alkaloid extracted from the Chinese herb Sophora japonica and has been demonstrated to prevent fibrosis. However, the anti-fibrosis effect of OM in DN is still unclear. In this study, we cultured normal rat renal tubular epithelial cells (NRK52Es) in high glucose and high glucose plus OM, and detected the expression of E-cadherin, α-SMA, FN, TGF-β1, SnoN, Arkadia, p-Smad2 and p-Smad3 and poly-ubiquitination of SnoN. The results showed that E-cadherin and SnoN expression in NRK52Es decreased significantly, but poly-ubiquitination of SnoN, TGF-β1, α-SMA, FN, Arkadia, p-Smad2 and p-Smad3 expression significantly increased due to high glucose stimulation, which could be almost completely reversed by OM, suggesting that OM may alleviate EMT induced by high glucose via upregulating SnoN expression and inhibiting TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway activation. Hence, OM could be a novel therapeutic for DN.
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