Authors: Okada, Hirokazu; Kalluri, Raghu

Source: Current Molecular Medicine, Volume 5, Number 5, August 2005 , pp. 467-474(8)

Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers

Abstract:

Renal fibrosis is a common consequence and often a central feature of all the progressive renal diseases that lead to end-stage renal failure. In comparison to wound healing, during kidney fibrosis the length of the post-inflammatory phase often exceeds and continues unchecked resulting in scar formation. Infiltrating immune cells and a heterogeneous colony of interstitial cells derived from a variety of cellular origins such as resident mesenchymal cells, tubular epithelial cells, circulating fibrocytes, and bone marrow derived stem cells, communicate with each other and with inflamed and surviving parenchymal cells via a network of cytokines and adhesion molecules to populate the renal tubulointerstitial space during early fibrogenesis. Such fibroblasts subsequently secrete abundant extracellular matrix to achieve architectural remodeling in parallel with functional deterioration. Renal fibrosis is a dominant determinant of the clinical outcome of patients and yet for the most part, current therapies are ineffective or only marginally effective. This review highlights recent advances in our understanding of the cellular and molecular events leading to the progression of renal fibrosis.

Keywords: fibrosis; collagen; fibroblast; epithelial mesenchymal transition; transforming growth factor-b; connective tissue growth factor; bone morphogenic protein; hepatocyte growth factor; stem cell

Document Type: Review article

Affiliations: 1: Harvard Medical School, Director, Center for Matrix Biology, DANA 514, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Avenue, Boston MA 02215, USA.

Publication date: 2005-08-01

More about this publication?

• Current Molecular Medicine is an interdisciplinary journal focused on providing the readership with current and comprehensive reviews on fundamental molecular mechanisms of disease pathogenesis, the development of molecular-diagnosis and/or novel approaches to rational treatment. The reviews should be of significant interest to basic researchers and clinical investigators in molecular medicine. Periodically the journal will invite guest editors to devote an issue on a basic research area that shows promise to advance our understanding of the molecular mechanism(s) of a disease or has potential for clinical applications.

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