Introduction: Kidney fibrosis has shown to be ameliorated through the involvement of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) and its dependent protein kinase I (cGKI). Serelaxin, the recombinant form of human relaxin-II, increases cGMP levels and has shown beneficial effects on kidney function in acute heart failure patients. Antifibrotic properties of serelaxin are supposed to be mediated via relaxin family peptide receptor 1 and subsequently enhanced nitric oxide/cGMP to inhibit transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß) signaling. This study examines the involvement of cGKI in the antifibrotic signaling of serelaxin. Methods and Results: Kidney fibrosis was induced by unilateral ureteral obstruction in wildtype (WT) and cGKI knock-out (KO) mice. After 7 days, renal antifibrotic effects of serelaxin were assessed. Serelaxin treatment for 7 days significantly increased cGMP in the kidney of WT and cGKI-KO. In WT, renal fibrosis was reduced through decreased accumulation of collagen1A1, total collagen, and fibronectin. The profibrotic connective tissue growth factor as well as myofibroblast differentiation were reduced and matrix metalloproteinases-2 and -9 were positively modulated after treatment. Moreover, Smad2 as well as extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 (ERK1) phosphorylation were decreased, whereas phosphodiesterase (PDE) 5a phosphorylation was increased. However, these effects were not observed in cGKI-KO. Conclusion: Antifibrotic renal effects of serelaxin are mediated via cGMP/cGKI to inhibit Smad2- and ERK1-dependent TGF-ß signaling and increased PDE5a phosphorylation.
CITATION STYLE
Wetzl, V., Schinner, E., Kees, F., Hofmann, F., Faerber, L., & Schlossmann, J. (2016). Involvement of cyclic guanosine monophosphate-dependent protein kinase I in renal antifibrotic effects of serelaxin. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 7(JUL). https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2016.00195
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