Browsing by Author "Sutton, Timothy A."
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Item Alterations in Protein Translation and Carboxylic Acid Catabolic Processes in Diabetic Kidney Disease(MDPI, 2022-03-30) Collins, Kimberly S.; Eadon, Michael T.; Cheng, Ying-Hua; Barwinska, Daria; Ferreira, Ricardo Melo; McCarthy, Thomas W.; Janosevic, Danielle; Syed, Farooq; Maier, Bernhard; El-Achkar, Tarek M.; Kelly, Katherine J.; Phillips, Carrie L.; Hato, Takashi; Sutton, Timothy A.; Dagher, Pierre C.; Medicine, School of MedicineDiabetic kidney disease (DKD) remains the leading cause of end-stage kidney disease despite decades of study. Alterations in the glomerulus and kidney tubules both contribute to the pathogenesis of DKD although the majority of investigative efforts have focused on the glomerulus. We sought to examine the differential expression signature of human DKD in the glomerulus and proximal tubule and corroborate our findings in the db/db mouse model of diabetes. A transcriptogram network analysis of RNAseq data from laser microdissected (LMD) human glomerulus and proximal tubule of DKD and reference nephrectomy samples revealed enriched pathways including rhodopsin-like receptors, olfactory signaling, and ribosome (protein translation) in the proximal tubule of human DKD biopsy samples. The translation pathway was also enriched in the glomerulus. Increased translation in diabetic kidneys was validated using polyribosomal profiling in the db/db mouse model of diabetes. Using single nuclear RNA sequencing (snRNAseq) of kidneys from db/db mice, we prioritized additional pathways identified in human DKD. The top overlapping pathway identified in the murine snRNAseq proximal tubule clusters and the human LMD proximal tubule compartment was carboxylic acid catabolism. Using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, the fatty acid catabolism pathway was also found to be dysregulated in the db/db mouse model. The Acetyl-CoA metabolite was down-regulated in db/db mice, aligning with the human differential expression of the genes ACOX1 and ACACB. In summary, our findings demonstrate that proximal tubular alterations in protein translation and carboxylic acid catabolism are key features in both human and murine DKD.Item Application of Laser Microdissection to Uncover Regional Transcriptomics in Human Kidney Tissue(MyJove Corporation, 2020-06-09) Barwinska, Daria; Ferkowicz, Michael J.; Cheng, Ying-Hua; Winfree, Seth; Dunn, Kenneth W.; Kelly, Katherine J.; Sutton, Timothy A.; Rovin, Brad H.; Parikh, Samir V.; Phillips, Carrie L.; Dagher, Pierre C.; El-Achkar, Tarek M.; Eadon, Michael T.; Medicine, School of MedicineGene expression analysis of human kidney tissue is an important tool to understand homeostasis and disease pathophysiology. Increasing the resolution and depth of this technology and extending it to the level of cells within the tissue is needed. Although the use of single nuclear and single cell RNA sequencing has become widespread, the expression signatures of cells obtained from tissue dissociation do not maintain spatial context. Laser microdissection (LMD) based on specific fluorescent markers would allow the isolation of specific structures and cell groups of interest with known localization, thereby enabling the acquisition of spatially-anchored transcriptomic signatures in kidney tissue. We have optimized an LMD methodology, guided by a rapid fluorescence-based stain, to isolate five distinct compartments within the human kidney and conduct subsequent RNA sequencing from valuable human kidney tissue specimens. We also present quality control parameters to enable the assessment of adequacy of the collected specimens. The workflow outlined in this manuscript shows the feasibility of this approach to isolate sub-segmental transcriptomic signatures with high confidence. The methodological approach presented here may also be applied to other tissue types with substitution of relevant antibody markers.Item Clinical, histopathologic and molecular features of idiopathic and diabetic nodular mesangial sclerosis in humans(Oxford University Press, 2021) Eadon, Michael T.; Lampe, Sam; Baig, Mirza M.; Collins, Kimberly S.; Ferreira, Ricardo Melo; Mang, Henry; Cheng, Ying-Hua; Barwinska, Daria; El-Achkar, Tarek M.; Schwantes-An, Tae-Hwi; Winfree, Seth; Temm, Constance J.; Ferkowicz, Michael J.; Dunn, Kenneth W.; Kelly, Katherine J.; Sutton, Timothy A.; Moe, Sharon M.; Moorthi, Ranjani N.; Phillips, Carrie L.; Dagher, Pierre C.; Medicine, School of MedicineBackground: Idiopathic nodular mesangial sclerosis, also called idiopathic nodular glomerulosclerosis (ING), is a rare clinical entity with an unclear pathogenesis. The hallmark of this disease is the presence of nodular mesangial sclerosis on histology without clinical evidence of diabetes mellitus or other predisposing diagnoses. To achieve insights into its pathogenesis, we queried the clinical, histopathologic and transcriptomic features of ING and nodular diabetic nephropathy (DN). Methods: All renal biopsy reports accessioned at Indiana University Health from 2001 to 2016 were reviewed to identify 48 ING cases. Clinical and histopathologic features were compared between individuals with ING and DN (n = 751). Glomeruli of ING (n = 5), DN (n = 18) and reference (REF) nephrectomy (n = 9) samples were isolated by laser microdissection and RNA was sequenced. Immunohistochemistry of proline-rich 36 (PRR36) protein was performed. Results: ING subjects were frequently hypertensive (95.8%) with a smoking history (66.7%). ING subjects were older, had lower proteinuria and had less hyaline arteriolosclerosis than DN subjects. Butanoate metabolism was an enriched pathway in ING samples compared with either REF or DN samples. The top differentially expressed gene, PRR36, had increased expression in glomeruli 248-fold [false discovery rate (FDR) P = 5.93 × 10-6] compared with the REF and increased 109-fold (FDR P = 1.85 × 10-6) compared with DN samples. Immunohistochemistry revealed a reduced proportion of cells with perinuclear reaction in ING samples as compared to DN. Conclusions: Despite similar clinical and histopathologic characteristics in ING and DN, the uncovered transcriptomic signature suggests that ING has distinct molecular features from nodular DN. Further study is warranted to understand these relationships.Item Endothelial STAT3 Modulates Protective Mechanisms in a Mouse Ischemia-Reperfusion Model of Acute Kidney Injury(hindawi publishing corporation, 2017) Dube, Shataakshi; Matam, Tejasvi; Yen, Jessica; Mang, Henry E.; Dagher, Pierre C.; Hato, Takashi; Sutton, Timothy A.; Medicine, School of MedicineSTAT3 is a transcriptional regulator that plays an important role in coordinating inflammation and immunity. In addition, there is a growing appreciation of the role STAT3 signaling plays in response to organ injury following diverse insults. Acute kidney injury (AKI) from ischemia-reperfusion injury is a common clinical entity with devastating consequences, and the recognition that endothelial alterations contribute to kidney dysfunction in this setting is of growing interest. Consequently, we used a mouse with a genetic deletion of Stat3 restricted to the endothelium to examine the role of STAT3 signaling in the pathophysiology of ischemic AKI. In a mouse model of ischemic AKI, the loss of endothelial STAT3 signaling significantly exacerbated kidney dysfunction, morphologic injury, and proximal tubular oxidative stress. The increased severity of ischemic AKI was associated with more robust endothelial-leukocyte adhesion and increased tissue accumulation of F4/80+ macrophages. Moreover, important proximal tubular adaptive mechanisms to injury were diminished in association with decreased tissue mRNA levels of the epithelial cell survival cytokine IL-22. In aggregate, these findings suggest that the endothelial STAT3 signaling plays an important role in limiting kidney dysfunction in ischemic AKI and that selective pharmacologic activation of endothelial STAT3 signaling could serve as a potential therapeutic target.Item Inhibition of Toll-Like Receptor 4 Signaling Mitigates Microvascular Loss but Not Fibrosis in a Model of Ischemic Acute Kidney Injury(MDPI, 2016-04-29) Dagher, Pierre C.; Hato, Takashi; Mang, Henry E.; Plotkin, Zoya; Richardson, Quentin V.; Massad, Michael; Mai, Erik; Kuehl, Sarah E.; Graham, Paige; Kumar, Rakesh; Sutton, Timothy A.; Department of Medicine, IU School of MedicineThe development of chronic kidney disease (CKD) following an episode of acute kidney injury (AKI) is an increasingly recognized clinical problem. Inhibition of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) protects renal function in animal models of AKI and has become a viable therapeutic strategy in AKI. However, the impact of TLR4 inhibition on the chronic sequelae of AKI is unknown. Consequently, we examined the chronic effects of TLR4 inhibition in a model of ischemic AKI. Mice with a TLR4-deletion on a C57BL/6 background and wild-type (WT) background control mice (C57BL/6) were subjected to bilateral renal artery clamping for 19 min and reperfusion for up to 6 weeks. Despite the acute protective effect of TLR4 inhibition on renal function (serum creatinine 1.6 ± 0.4 mg/dL TLR4-deletion vs. 2.8 ± 0.3 mg/dL·WT) and rates of tubular apoptosis following ischemic AKI, we found no difference in neutrophil or macrophage infiltration. Furthermore, we observed significant protection from microvascular rarefaction at six weeks following injury with TLR4-deletion, but this did not alter development of fibrosis. In conclusion, we validate the acute protective effect of TLR4 signal inhibition in AKI but demonstrate that this protective effect does not mitigate the sequential fibrogenic response in this model of ischemic AKI.Item Integrated Cytometry With Machine Learning Applied to High-Content Imaging of Human Kidney Tissue for In Situ Cell Classification and Neighborhood Analysis(Elsevier, 2023) Winfree, Seth; McNutt, Andrew T.; Khochare, Suraj; Borgard, Tyler J.; Barwinska, Daria; Sabo, Angela R.; Ferkowicz, Michael J.; Williams, James C., Jr.; Lingeman, James E.; Gulbronson, Connor J.; Kelly, Katherine J.; Sutton, Timothy A.; Dagher, Pierre C.; Eadon, Michael T.; Dunn, Kenneth W.; El-Achkar, Tarek M.; Medicine, School of MedicineThe human kidney is a complex organ with various cell types that are intricately organized to perform key physiological functions and maintain homeostasis. New imaging modalities, such as mesoscale and highly multiplexed fluorescence microscopy, are increasingly being applied to human kidney tissue to create single-cell resolution data sets that are both spatially large and multidimensional. These single-cell resolution high-content imaging data sets have great potential to uncover the complex spatial organization and cellular makeup of the human kidney. Tissue cytometry is a novel approach used for the quantitative analysis of imaging data; however, the scale and complexity of such data sets pose unique challenges for processing and analysis. We have developed the Volumetric Tissue Exploration and Analysis (VTEA) software, a unique tool that integrates image processing, segmentation, and interactive cytometry analysis into a single framework on desktop computers. Supported by an extensible and open-source framework, VTEA's integrated pipeline now includes enhanced analytical tools, such as machine learning, data visualization, and neighborhood analyses, for hyperdimensional large-scale imaging data sets. These novel capabilities enable the analysis of mesoscale 2- and 3-dimensional multiplexed human kidney imaging data sets (such as co-detection by indexing and 3-dimensional confocal multiplexed fluorescence imaging). We demonstrate the utility of this approach in identifying cell subtypes in the kidney on the basis of labels, spatial association, and their microenvironment or neighborhood membership. VTEA provides an integrated and intuitive approach to decipher the cellular and spatial complexity of the human kidney and complements other transcriptomics and epigenetic efforts to define the landscape of kidney cell types.Item Integration of spatial and single-cell transcriptomics localizes epithelial cell–immune cross-talk in kidney injury(American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2021-06-22) Ferreira, Ricardo Melo; Sabo, Angela R.; Winfree, Seth; Collins, Kimberly S.; Janosevic, Danielle; Gulbronson, Connor J.; Cheng, Ying-Hua; Casbon, Lauren; Barwinska, Daria; Ferkowicz, Michael J.; Xuei, Xiaoling; Zhang, Chi; Dunn, Kenneth W.; Kelly, Katherine J.; Sutton, Timothy A.; Hato, Takashi; Dagher, Pierre C.; El-Achkar, Tarek M.; Eadon, Michael T.; Medicine, School of MedicineSingle-cell sequencing studies have characterized the transcriptomic signature of cell types within the kidney. However, the spatial distribution of acute kidney injury (AKI) is regional and affects cells heterogeneously. We first optimized coordination of spatial transcriptomics and single-nuclear sequencing data sets, mapping 30 dominant cell types to a human nephrectomy. The predicted cell-type spots corresponded with the underlying histopathology. To study the implications of AKI on transcript expression, we then characterized the spatial transcriptomic signature of 2 murine AKI models: ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) and cecal ligation puncture (CLP). Localized regions of reduced overall expression were associated with injury pathways. Using single-cell sequencing, we deconvoluted the signature of each spatial transcriptomic spot, identifying patterns of colocalization between immune and epithelial cells. Neutrophils infiltrated the renal medulla in the ischemia model. Atf3 was identified as a chemotactic factor in S3 proximal tubules. In the CLP model, infiltrating macrophages dominated the outer cortical signature, and Mdk was identified as a corresponding chemotactic factor. The regional distribution of these immune cells was validated with multiplexed CO-Detection by indEXing (CODEX) immunofluorescence. Spatial transcriptomic sequencing complemented single-cell sequencing by uncovering mechanisms driving immune cell infiltration and detection of relevant cell subpopulations.Item Large-scale 3-dimensional quantitative imaging of tissues: state-of-the-art and translational implications(Elsevier, 2017) Winfree, Seth; Ferkowicz, Michael J.; Dagher, Pierre C.; Kelly, Katherine J.; Eadon, Michael T.; Sutton, Timothy A.; Markel, Troy A.; Yoder, Mervin C.; Dunn, Kenneth W.; El-Achkar, Tarek M.; Department of Medicine, School of MedicineRecent developments in automated optical sectioning microscope systems have enabled researchers to conduct high resolution, three-dimensional (3D) microscopy at the scale of millimeters in various types of tissues. This powerful technology allows the exploration of tissues at an unprecedented level of detail, while preserving the spatial context. By doing so, such technology will also enable researchers to explore cellular and molecular signatures within tissue and correlate with disease course. This will allow an improved understanding of pathophysiology and facilitate a precision medicine approach to assess the response to treatment. The ability to perform large-scale imaging in 3D cannot be realized without the widespread availability of accessible quantitative analysis. In this review, we will outline recent advances in large-scale 3D imaging and discuss the available methodologies to perform meaningful analysis and potential applications in translational research.Item Large-scale, three-dimensional tissue cytometry of the human kidney: a complete and accessible pipeline(Elsevier, 2021) Ferkowicz, Michael J.; Winfree, Seth; Sabo, Angela R.; Kamocka, Malgorzata M.; Khochare, Suraj; Barwinska, Daria; Eadon, Michael T.; Cheng, Ying-Hua; Phillips, Carrie L.; Sutton, Timothy A.; Kelly, Katherine J.; Dagher, Pierre C.; El-Achkar, Tarek M.; Dunn, Kenneth W.; Kidney Precision Medicine Project; Anatomy, Cell Biology and Physiology, School of MedicineThe advent of personalized medicine has driven the development of novel approaches for obtaining detailed cellular and molecular information from clinical tissue samples. Tissue cytometry is a promising new technique that can be used to enumerate and characterize each cell in a tissue and, unlike flow cytometry and other single-cell techniques, does so in the context of the intact tissue, preserving spatial information that is frequently crucial to understanding a cell's physiology, function, and behavior. However, the wide-scale adoption of tissue cytometry as a research tool has been limited by the fact that published examples utilize specialized techniques that are beyond the capabilities of most laboratories. Here we describe a complete and accessible pipeline, including methods of sample preparation, microscopy, image analysis, and data analysis for large-scale three-dimensional tissue cytometry of human kidney tissues. In this workflow, multiphoton microscopy of unlabeled tissue is first conducted to collect autofluorescence and second-harmonic images. The tissue is then labeled with eight fluorescent probes, and imaged using spectral confocal microscopy. The raw 16-channel images are spectrally deconvolved into 8-channel images, and analyzed using the Volumetric Tissue Exploration and Analysis (VTEA) software developed by our group. We applied this workflow to analyze millimeter-scale tissue samples obtained from human nephrectomies and from renal biopsies from individuals diagnosed with diabetic nephropathy, generating a quantitative census of tens of thousands of cells in each. Such analyses can provide useful insights that can be linked to the biology or pathology of kidney disease. The approach utilizes common laboratory techniques, is compatible with most commercially-available confocal microscope systems and all image and data analysis is conducted using the VTEA image analysis software, which is available as a plug-in for ImageJ.Item Molecular characterization of the human kidney interstitium in health and disease(American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2021-02-10) Barwinska, Daria; El-Achkar, Tarek M.; Ferreira, Ricardo Melo; Syed, Farooq; Cheng, Ying-Hua; Winfree, Seth; Ferkowicz, Michael J.; Hato, Takashi; Collins, Kimberly S.; Dunn, Kenneth W.; Kelly, Katherine J.; Sutton, Timothy A.; Rovin, Brad H.; Parikh, Samir V.; Phillips, Carrie L.; Dagher, Pierre C.; Eadon, Michael T.; Medicine, School of MedicineThe gene expression signature of the human kidney interstitium is incompletely understood. The cortical interstitium (excluding tubules, glomeruli, and vessels) in reference nephrectomies (N = 9) and diabetic kidney biopsy specimens (N = 6) was laser microdissected (LMD) and sequenced. Samples underwent RNA sequencing. Gene signatures were deconvolved using single nuclear RNA sequencing (snRNAseq) data derived from overlapping specimens. Interstitial LMD transcriptomics uncovered previously unidentified markers including KISS1, validated with in situ hybridization. LMD transcriptomics and snRNAseq revealed strong correlation of gene expression within corresponding kidney regions. Relevant enriched interstitial pathways included G-protein coupled receptor. binding and collagen biosynthesis. The diabetic interstitium was enriched for extracellular matrix organization and small-molecule catabolism. Cell type markers with unchanged expression (NOTCH3, EGFR, and HEG1) and those down-regulated in diabetic nephropathy (MYH11, LUM, and CCDC3) were identified. LMD transcriptomics complements snRNAseq; together, they facilitate mapping of interstitial marker genes to aid interpretation of pathophysiology in precision medicine studies.