Kazutomo Sawai, Kiyoshi Mori, Masashi Mukoyama, Akira Sugawara, Takayoshi Suganami, Masao Koshikawa, Kensei Yahata, Hisashi Makino, Tetsuya Nagae, Yuriko Fujinaga, Hideki Yokoi, Tetsuro Yoshioka, Akihiro Yoshimoto, Issei Tanaka, Kazuwa Nakao
Dynamic recovery of glomerular structure occurs after severe glomerular damage in anti-Thy-1 glomerulonephritis (Thy-1 GN), but its mechanism remains to be investigated. To identify candidate genes possibly involved in glomerular reconstruction, screening was performed for genes that are specifically expressed by podocytes and are upregulated in glomeruli of Thy-1 GN. Among them, cysteine-rich protein 61 (Cyr61 or CCN1), a soluble angiogenic protein belonging to the CCN family, was identified. By Northern blot analysis, Cyr61 mRNA was markedly upregulated in glomeruli of Thy-1 GN from day 3 through day 7, when mesangial cell migration was most prominent...
May 2003: Journal of the American Society of Nephrology: JASN