Chronic kidney disease (CKD), defined as a decrease in renal function, is a global issue. The treatment of CKD and its comorbidities imparts a costly burden on the American healthcare system, therefore the need for therapeutics that prevent the progression of chronic kidney disease is urgent. Microarray studies have shown that the serine protease inhibitor clade A member 3 (SERPINA3) is transcriptionally upregulated in kidney injury. SERPINA3 is an extracellular protease inhibitor that maintains the homeostasis of extracellular matrix proteins. Our lab hypothesizes that SERPINA3 might not only be a transcriptional biomarker for kidney injury, but the SERPINA3 protein might act as a key upstream regulator in the advancement of renal inflammation and fibrosis. Our research characterizes the expression patterns of SERPINA3 in models of acute and chronic kidney injury through immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry. Our unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model of chronic renal injury displays significant glomerular localization of SERPINA3. The adenine diet model of chronic kidney injury and the renal ischemic reperfusion injury (RIRI) model of acute kidney injury both display tubular upregulation of SERPINA3. The DOCA-salt hypertension model of chronic kidney injury was imposed on two strains of mice, C57BL/6 and 129/sv, both of which display tubular and glomerular upregulation of SERPINA3. However, the C57BL/6 strain, which is known for its resistance to glomerular sclerosis, displays higher renal localization of SERPINA3 when exposed to DOCA-salt hypertension, than does the 129/sv strain. In conclusion, our data suggests that SERPINA3 protein is upregulated in both acute and chronic kidney injury. The role of SERPINA3 in these models remains unknown, however, our lab theorizes that SERPINA3 protein may be renoprotective in certain instances of kidney injury. Functional assays must be performed to elucidate the role of SERPINA3 in these models of kidney injury. Characterizing the function of SERPINA3 in chronic and acute kidney injury might aid in the development of novel therapeutics to prevent the advancement of CKD.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/36545 |
| Date | 12 June 2019 |
| Creators | Heilig, Elysia Othelia |
| Contributors | Belghasem, Mostafa E., Chitalia, Vipul |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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