The Rho-ROCK system may play an important role in the development of tissue fibrosis, and the Rho-ROCK signaling pathway may be a new therapeutic target for preventing interstitial fibrosis in progressive renal disease.

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ATRA administration significantly reduced severe necrosis/crescent formation and urinary protein excretion in glomerulonephritis rats. Suppression of a wide variety of gene expression may partly explain the mechanism of ATRA's antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory effects. These data suggest a novel therapeutic application of ATRA toward glomerulonephritis.

These results provide evidence for the antioxidant action of fluvastatin in vivo. The decreased interstitial fibrosis along with a decreased oxidative stress marker in the interstitial lesion strongly suggests the existence of a causal relationship between them. Fluvastatin may have therapeutic value in slowing or preventing interstitial fibrosis in progressive renal disease.

BackgroundImmunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is one of most common forms of glomerulonephritis. At this point, the clinical impact of hyperuricemia on IgAN is not clear. The aim of the present study was to explore the clinical impact of hyperuricemia on the progression of IgAN.Study DesignMulticenter retrospective cohort study.Setting & Participants935 IgAN patients who were diagnosed by kidney biopsy at Osaka University Hospital, Osaka General Hospital, and Osaka Rosai Hospital. were included in this study.PredictorUric acid levels at renal biopsy.OutcomesThe outcome of interest was the time from the kidney biopsy to the time when a 50% increase in the baseline serum creatinine level was observed, which was defined as "progression".MeasurementsThe baseline characteristics according to the kidney biopsy at the time of diagnosis were collected from the medical records, and included age, gender, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes (use of antidiabetic drugs), serum levels of creatinine, urinary protein, smoking status, RAAS blockers and steroid therapy.ResultsAn elevated serum uric acid level was an independent risk factor for progression in female patients (per 1.0 mg/dL, multivariate-adjusted incident rate ratio 1.33 [95% confidence interval 1.07, 1.64], P = 0.008) but not in male patients (1.02 [0.81, 1.29], P = 0.855). To control a confounding effect of renal function on an association between serum uric acid level and progression in female patients, age- and serum creatinine-matched and propensity score-matched analyses were performed, and these results also supported the effect by uric acid on kidney disease progression independent of basal kidney function.LimitationsA cohort analyzed retorospectively.ConclusionsThis study revealed that an elevated uric acid level was an independent risk factor for ESKD in female IgAN patients. Therefore, uric acid might be a treatable target in female IgAN patients.