Kidney disease is worldwide health problem that is becoming increasingly prevalent. Primary glomerular disease, both acquired and genetic, represents a significant proportion of these cases. We are interested in understanding the makeup of the glomerular filtration barrier and how it becomes damaged and leaky to plasma proteins. Our focus over the last sixteen years has been to investigate the composition and function of the glomerular basement membrane (GBM), a specialized extracellular matrix that is an integral component of the filtration barrier. The GBM contains laminin, collagen IV, nidogen, and the heparan sulfate proteoglycan agrin. Our studies of mice lacking the laminin beta2 chain suggests that the GBM itself serves as a barrier to albumin and protects podocytes from the injurious effects of plasma proteins, as mice lacking laminin beta2 develop nephrotic syndrome and renal failure. Mutations in human LAMB2 have also been shown to cause kidney disease; null mutations cause Pierson syndrome (congenital nephrotic syndrome with ocular and nervous system abnormalities), whereas missense mutations cause congenital nephrotic syndrome with less severe extrarenal manifestations. Our recent studies have shown that some of these missense mutations impair secretion of laminin-521 into the GBM, and that increased secretion of even mutant forms could be beneficial for patients carrying such mutations. The focus of this proposal is to find methods to ameliorate kidney disease in patients with GBM defects due to laminin abnormalities and to better understand the role of laminin polymerization in GBM structure and function. To accomplish this, we will 1) perform high throughput screens of drug libraries to find compounds that can promote secretion of mutant LAMB2 chains in vitro; 2) test these compounds in vivo in our mouse models expressing mutant laminin beta2 chains to look for improved secretion and an improved filtration barrier; and 3) characterize activity and function of a human LAMB2 mutation that affects laminin polymerization. The results of these studies will provide important new insights into laminin and basement membrane biology and lead to potential therapies for human glomerular disease involving GBM defects.
Kidney disease is huge worldwide health problem that is becoming increasingly prevalent, and primary glomerular disease represents a significant proportion of these cases. The focus of this proposal is laminin-521, a component of the glomerular basement membrane that is required for a proper filtration barrier but is defective in some children with genetic kidney disease. The goal of this proposal is to investigate mechanisms whereby the kidney disease in these patients can be ameliorated by improving secretion and/or incorporation of laminin into the kidney's filtration apparatus.
| Funk, Steven D; Lin, Meei-Hua; Miner, Jeffrey H (2018) Alport syndrome and Pierson syndrome: Diseases of the glomerular basement membrane. Matrix Biol 71-72:250-261 |
| Funk, Steven D; Bayer, Raymond H; Malone, Andrew F et al. (2018) Pathogenicity of a Human Laminin ?2 Mutation Revealed in Models of Alport Syndrome. J Am Soc Nephrol 29:949-960 |
| Fissell, William H; Miner, Jeffrey H (2018) What Is the Glomerular Ultrafiltration Barrier? J Am Soc Nephrol 29:2262-2264 |
| Luo, Wentian; Olaru, Florina; Miner, Jeffrey H et al. (2018) Alternative Pathway Is Essential for Glomerular Complement Activation and Proteinuria in a Mouse Model of Membranous Nephropathy. Front Immunol 9:1433 |
| Lin, Meei-Hua; Miller, Joseph B; Kikkawa, Yamato et al. (2018) Laminin-521 Protein Therapy for Glomerular Basement Membrane and Podocyte Abnormalities in a Model of Pierson Syndrome. J Am Soc Nephrol 29:1426-1436 |
| Omar, Mitchell H; Kerrisk Campbell, Meghan; Xiao, Xiao et al. (2017) CNS Neurons Deposit Laminin ?5 to Stabilize Synapses. Cell Rep 21:1281-1292 |
| Bartlett, Christina S; Scott, Rizaldy P; Carota, Isabel Anna et al. (2017) Glomerular mesangial cell recruitment and function require the co-receptor neuropilin-1. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 313:F1232-F1242 |
| Suleiman, Hani Y; Roth, Robyn; Jain, Sanjay et al. (2017) Injury-induced actin cytoskeleton reorganization in podocytes revealed by super-resolution microscopy. JCI Insight 2: |
| Dutta, Rajesh K; Kondeti, Vinay K; Sharma, Isha et al. (2017) Beneficial Effects of Myo-Inositol Oxygenase Deficiency in Cisplatin-Induced AKI. J Am Soc Nephrol 28:1421-1436 |
| Beckerman, Pazit; Bi-Karchin, Jing; Park, Ae Seo Deok et al. (2017) Transgenic expression of human APOL1 risk variants in podocytes induces kidney disease in mice. Nat Med 23:429-438 |
Showing the most recent 10 out of 61 publications
