Abstract
Renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is a local sterile inflammatory response driven by innate immunity. Emerging data have revealed that complement and neutrophils contribute to hyperinflammation and oxidative stress in I/R induced acute kidney injury (AKI). However, the interplay between the C3a/C3aR axis and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) is imcompletelyunderstood. Here, we utilize genetically engineered mouse models and pharmacological inhibitors to investigate this association. The C3a/C3aR axis is found to promote neutrophil recruitment and NETs formation, thereby accelerating renal damage and dysfunction. Knockout of C3aR restores NETs release and improves renal function after I/R injury. Antibody-mediated blockade of NETs can also significantly ameliorate renal tubular injury and inflammation. Consistently, under stimulation by C3a, neutrophils are activated to promote NETs formation and subsequent renal tubular epithelial cell damage, and blocking C3aR rescued the injury. Interfering with reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation in neutrophils by antioxidant treatment significantly attenuates NETs formation. Our findings demonstrate that the C3a/C3aR-ROS-NETs axis constitutes a promising target for prevention or treatment of renal I/R injury.
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Abbreviations
- I/R:
-
Ischemia/reperfusion
- AKI:
-
Acute kidney injury
- NETs:
-
Neutrophil extracellular traps
- PAD4:
-
Ptidyl arginine deiminase 4
- TUNEL:
-
TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling
- C3aR KO:
-
C3aR knockout
- C3aRA:
-
C3aR antagonist
- SCr:
-
Serum creatinine
- BUN:
-
Blood urea nitrogen
- MPO:
-
Myeloperoxidase
- NE:
-
Neutrophil elastase
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Liangdi Xie for providing experimental sites and instruments. Changsheng Xu and Guili Lian provided technical assistance and research resources. We thank the central laboratory for providing instruments.
Funding
This study was supported by grants from the Joint Funds for the Innovation of Science and Technology, Fujian Province (No. 2019Y9117). Fujian Provincial Health Technology Project (No. 2021CXA018). The Scientific Research Foundation for the Introduction of Talent of the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University (YJRC3992). The authors declare that no other funds, grants, or support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.
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XW, CH and JW designed the research and wrote the manuscript. XW and MP did animal experiments and analyzed data. DY, MW and JZ performed in vitro experiments. QX and YG designed experimental and edited the manuscript. SL and XZ performed histological analysis. CH and JW supervised the whole study. We declare that all authors read, verified, and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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18_2023_4967_MOESM1_ESM.tif
Figure S1. I/R leads to alterations of renal function and morphology. A. Serum levels of creatinine and urea were measured in mice at different times of I/R. B. Urinary protein was measured in mice at different times of I/R. C. Representative microphotographs of H&E stained histological sections from sham and I/R mice, and tubular damage was scored. Scale bars: left, 50 μm; right, 10 μm. D. Representative TUNEL assay images and quantification of TUNEL positive cells in the respective groups. Scale bar: 25 μm. * P<0.5, ** P<0.01, *** P<0.001, **** P<0.0001, ns, no significant. (TIF 1504 KB)
18_2023_4967_MOESM2_ESM.tif
Figure S2 C3aR is vital for renal injury after I/R. A. Western blot and quantitative analysis of C3aR protein expression levels in lysates of renal tissue. B. ELISA measurement of C3a levels in WT mouse renal tissue lysates in the respective groups. C. Representative immunofluorescence staining of MPO and NE in neutrophils treat with C3a stimulated. Scale bars: 25 μm. D. Representative immunofluorescence staining of C3aR and NE in neutrophils after C3a stimulated, with or without C3aRA. Scale bars: 50 μm. * P<0.5, ** P<0.01, *** P<0.001, **** P<0.0001, ns, no significant. (TIF 949 KB)
18_2023_4967_MOESM3_ESM.tif
Figure S3 C3a mediates NETs formation via the ERK and ROS pathways in neutrophils. A. Representative image of DCFH immunofluorescence in neutrophils after hypoxia exposure. Scale bars: 25 μm. B. ROS content in neutrophils as determined by flow cytometric analysis and statistical analysis of ROS level in neutrophils from each group. C. Representative western blots and quantitative analysis of p-p38 and p-ERK1/2 protein levels in mice treated with or without C3a. D. Representative western blots and quantitative analysis of p-ERK1/2 protein levels in mice with C3aR inhibition. E. Representative blots and quantitative analysis of p-ERK1/2 protein levels in mice with NETs inhibition. * P<0.5, ** P<0.01, *** P<0.001, ns, no significant. (TIF 867 KB)
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Wu, X., You, D., Pan, M. et al. Knockout of the C3a receptor protects against renal ischemia reperfusion injury by reduction of NETs formation. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 80, 322 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-023-04967-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-023-04967-6