KFO 342 - P8: The Renin-Angiotensin II Axis: a Novel Target for the Treatment of Acute Kidney Injury

Basic data for this project

Description

The results from the previous project demonstrated the protective effect of the therapeutic administration of glutamine on kidney damage after cardiac surgery (clinical study) and on AKI development in a murine model after renal ischemia-reperfusion model during the first funding period of the CRU342. Using molecular imaging it was shown that this effect is not associated with enhanced glutamine consumption in AKI disease models. Furthermore, additional results from clinical studies and preliminary experiments have led to the hypothesis that angiotensin II administration may ameliorate the development of AKI by modulating both the regulation of the microhemodynamics and the glomerular filtration as well as the inflammatory response in the kidney. Thus, this new project will investigate the effect of angiotensin II administration on kidney damage and the inflammatory signature in a cohort of cardiac surgery patients. The molecular mechanism and the effect of angiotensin II on transcriptomic and proteomic imprinting will be investigate by using multiscale and translational imaging approaches ranging from intravital microscopy to functional/metabolic and novel AT1 receptor-targeted whole-body imaging will be established and applied to correlate regional kidney perfusion, function and inflammation, and AT receptor density during the spontaneous course of the disease and following angiotensin II-targeted interventions in disease models and finally in patients.