Abstract:

ABSTRACT Objective: To investigate the regulation of expression for C3a receptors in human renal tubular epithelial cells (HK2 cells) by multiple inflammatory cytokines. Methodology: Multiple inflammatory cytokines (IFN-γ、C3a、IL-1β、TNF-α、TGF-β) were used to be co-cultivation with HK2 cells. The levels of messengers and protein for the C3a receptor (C3aR) in HK2 cells were detected by fluorescence quantitative-polymerase chain reaction、immunochemical staining and Western blot. Results: It was found that inflammatory cytokine interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) could significantly promote the expression of C3aR in HK2 cells (Compared with control group, C3aR mRNA expression levels increase about 5 times, P = 0.001 <0.05, protein levels were up-regulated approximately 1.6-fold, P=0.046<0.05) and the up-regulation of C3aR on mRNA levels was dose- and time-dependent for it. However, other cytokines such as: TNF-α、TGF-β、IL-1β and even biologically active polypeptide C3a were not observed visible impact on the expression of C3aR in HK2 cells. Conclusion: Our data not only found that the tubular epithelial cell surface expressed C3a receptor (C3aR), but also observed that inflammatory cytokine interferon-γ could significantly enhance the expression of C3aR in HK2 cells, which indicated that the C3a/C3aR axis may be involved in the regulation of renal local inflammatory reaction.
Key words

Key words: inflammatory cytokines, interferon-gamma, renal tubular epithelial cells, C3a receptor, expression increased