New Aspects of Kidney Fibrosis-From Mechanisms of Injury to Modulation of Disease

Marcus J Moeller; Rafael Kramann; Twan Lammers; Bernd Hoppe; Eicke Latz; Isis Ludwig-Portugall; Peter Boor; Jürgen Floege; Christian Kurts; Ralf Weiskirchen; Tammo Ostendorf

doi:10.3389/fmed.2021.814497

New Aspects of Kidney Fibrosis-From Mechanisms of Injury to Modulation of Disease

Front Med (Lausanne). 2022 Jan 12:8:814497. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.814497. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Marcus J Moeller^{1

2}, Rafael Kramann^{1

3

4}, Twan Lammers⁵, Bernd Hoppe^{6

7}, Eicke Latz⁸, Isis Ludwig-Portugall⁹, Peter Boor^{1

10}, Jürgen Floege¹, Christian Kurts^{9

11}, Ralf Weiskirchen¹², Tammo Ostendorf¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Nephrology and Clinical Immunology, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany.
² Heisenberg Chair for Preventive and Translational Nephrology, Aachen, Germany.
³ Institute of Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany.
⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Transplantation, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Nanomedicine and Theranostics, Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Experimental Molecular Imaging, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
⁶ Division of Pediatric Nephrology and Kidney Transplantation, University Hospital of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
⁷ German Hyperoxaluria Center, Pediatric Kidney Care Center, Bonn, Germany.
⁸ Institute of Innate Immunity, University Hospital of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
⁹ Institute for Molecular Medicine and Experimental Immunology, University Hospital of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
¹⁰ Institute of Pathology, RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Aachen, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
¹² Institute of Molecular Pathobiochemistry, Experimental Gene Therapy and Clinical Chemistry (IFMPEGKC), University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.

Abstract

Organ fibrogenesis is characterized by a common pathophysiological final pathway independent of the underlying progressive disease of the respective organ. This makes it particularly suitable as a therapeutic target. The Transregional Collaborative Research Center "Organ Fibrosis: From Mechanisms of Injury to Modulation of Disease" (referred to as SFB/TRR57) was hosted from 2009 to 2021 by the Medical Faculties of RWTH Aachen University and the University of Bonn. This consortium had the ultimate goal of discovering new common but also different fibrosis pathways in the liver and kidneys. It finally successfully identified new mechanisms and established novel therapeutic approaches to interfere with hepatic and renal fibrosis. This review covers the consortium's key kidney-related findings, where three overarching questions were addressed: (i) What are new relevant mechanisms and signaling pathways triggering renal fibrosis? (ii) What are new immunological mechanisms, cells and molecules that contribute to renal fibrosis?, and finally (iii) How can renal fibrosis be modulated?

Keywords: crystals; deep learning; fibrosis imaging; inflammasome; lupus erythematodes; myofibroblast; parietal epithelial cell; renal fibrosis.

Publication types

Review