Proteolytic Cleavage by Matriptase Exacerbating Kidney Injury: a Novel Therapeutic Target

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a progressive disease, and podocyte injury is a potential mechanism. We found that Matriptase was activated at podocytes in CKD patients and mice while a Matriptase inhibitor slowed the progression of mouse kidney disease. The mechanism could be accounted for by an imbalance favoring Matriptase over its cognate inhibitor, hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor type 1 (HAI-1), as conditional depletion of HAI-1 in podocytes accelerates podocyte injury. Intriguingly, the N-terminal of Podocin (Podocin-N), as a consequence of Matriptase cleavage of Podocin, translocates to nucleoli. These results suggest that aberrant activation of Matriptase would cause podocyte injury, and a targeting Matriptase could be a novel therapeutic strategy for CKD patients. Significant statementChronic kidney disease (CKD) is a progressive disease. If podocytes, which are specialized cells of the kidney glomerulus that wrap around capillaries, are injured, kidney injury is exacerbated. Thus, a therapeutic strategy to addressing CKD would be to block podocyte injury. The present study provides evidence that Matriptase cleaves Podocin, a component of podocyte slit membrane, and the N-terminal of podocin translocates to nucleoli, causing kidney injury. Our findings show that the N-terminal of Podocin plays an efficient role for cell fate in podocytes. In addition, the inhibition of Matriptase would be a potential therapeutic target for CKD.