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An update: the role of Nephrin inside and outside the kidney

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  • Published: 29 April 2015
  • Volume 58, pages 649–657, (2015)
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An update: the role of Nephrin inside and outside the kidney
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  • XueZhu Li1 &
  • John Cijiang He2 

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Abstract

Nephrin is a key molecule in podocytes to maintain normal slit diaphragm structure. Nephin interacts with many other podocyte and slit diaphragm protein and also mediates important cell signaling pathways in podocytes. Loss of nephrin during the development leads to the congenital nephrotic syndrome in children. Reduction of nephrin expression is often observed in adult kidney diseases including diabetic nephropathy and HIV-associated nephropathy. The critical role of nephrin has been confirmed by different animal models with nephrin knockout and knockdown. Recent studies demonstrate that knockdown of nephrin expression in adult mice aggravates the progression of unilateral nephrectomy and Adriamycin-induced kidney disease. In addition to its critical role in maintaining normal glomerular filtration unit in the kidney, nephrin is also expressed in other organs. However, the exact role of nephrin in kidney and extra-renal organs has not been well characterized. Future studies are required to determine whether nephrin could be developed as a drug target to treat patients with kidney disease.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nephrology; Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200120, China

    XueZhu Li

  2. Department of Medicine/Nephrology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    John Cijiang He

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  1. XueZhu Li
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  2. John Cijiang He
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Correspondence to John Cijiang He.

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Li, X., He, J.C. An update: the role of Nephrin inside and outside the kidney. Sci. China Life Sci. 58, 649–657 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-015-4844-1

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  • Received: 23 December 2014

  • Accepted: 27 February 2015

  • Published: 29 April 2015

  • Issue Date: July 2015

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-015-4844-1

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Keywords

  • Nephrin
  • podocytes
  • kidney
  • slit diaphragm
  • proteinuria
  • cell signaling pathway
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