Knock-out of Sox6 in renin expressing cells inhibits hypertension induced by renal artery stenosis and kidney damage. Sox6 plays a novel role in renal physiology; modulating renin expression during pathological conditions. These results will aid in the discovery of a novel transcriptional regulatory network controlled by Sox6, involved in blood pressure regulation.
Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) generated kidney organoids. (A) Protocol scheme showing representative pictures during kidney organoid formation. Scale bars: 500 µm. (B) Characterization of kidney organoids at day 26; CDH1, marker of distal tubes and collecting tubes; LTL, proximal tubes; WT1, podocytes; DAPI, nuclei; and Hematoxylin and Eosin to detect internal tubular structures (indicated by arrows). (C) Analysis of changes induced by IBMX and Forskolin (I&F) treatment. I. Bright field pictures to visualize morphological changes, II. Western blot analysis of Sox6 and renin increase induced by I&F at day 3 (lower panels protein quantification), III. qRT-PCR analysis of renin increase induced by I&F at day 3.
The Renin Angiotensin Aldosterone System (RAAS) plays a key role in regulating blood pressure in humans. Renin controls the rate-limiting step in the conversion of angiotensinogen to angiotensin I. In adults, renin is produced and stored by juxtaglomerular (JG) cells in the kidney.

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Laboratory Projects and Interests

  • Regulation of renin expression and blood pressure control and kidney development.
  • Sox6 role in renin regulation and hypertension control, specifically in renal artery stenosis induced hypertension.
  • Use of human induced pluripotent stem cells to generate kidney organoids to study Sox6 function in hypertension
  • Use BioVU to examine the association of Sox6 with disease outcomes in humans with hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases.

Funding

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