N. Jourde-Chiche

The uremic solute indoxyl sulfate induces oxidative stress in endothelial cells

Summary.  Background: Endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress are matters of concern in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF). Uremic solutes retained in these patients could be involved in these processes. Notably, the protein‐bound uremic solute indoxyl sulfate induces endothelial dysfunction in vitro, and has shown pro‐oxidant effects. Objective: To demonstrate that indoxyl sulfate is a potential mediator of oxidative stress in endothelial cells in vitro. Methods: Indoxyl sulfate‐induced oxidative stress in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) was studied by measuring reactive oxygen specie (ROS) production by cytofluorimetry, by analyzing the involvement of the pro‐oxidative enzymes NAD(P)H oxidase, xanthine oxidase, and NO synthase, and by measuring the levels of the non‐enzymatic antioxidant glutathione. Results: We showed that indoxyl sulfate induced a significant production of ROS in HUVEC, with or without human serum albumin. We then investigated the role of pro‐oxidative enzymes and measured the levels of the antioxidant glutathione. The NAD(P)H oxidase inhibitors, DPI, and apocynin, inhibited ROS production, whereas inhibitors of xanthine oxidase, NO synthase, and mitochondrial ROS had no effect. Interestingly, indoxyl sulfate strongly decreased the levels of glutathione, one of the most active antioxidant systems of the cell. In addition, the ROS production mediated by indoxyl sulfate was inhibited by the antioxidants vitamin C, vitamin E, and NAC. Conclusion: The uremic solute indoxyl sulfate enhances ROS production, increases NAD(P)H oxidase activity, and decreases glutathione levels in endothelial cells. Thus, indoxyl sulfate induces oxidative stress by modifying the balance between pro‐ and antioxidant mechanisms in endothelial cells.

Vascular Incompetence in Dialysis Patients—Protein-Bound Uremic Toxins and Endothelial Dysfunction

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have a much higher risk of cardiovascular diseases than the general population. Endothelial dysfunction, which participates in accelerated atherosclerosis, is a hallmark of CKD. Patients with CKD display impaired endothelium‐dependent vasodilatation, elevated soluble biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction, and increased oxidative stress. They also present an imbalance between circulating endothelial populations reflecting endothelial injury (endothelial microparticles and circulating endothelial cells) and repair (endothelial progenitor cells). Endothelial damage induced by a uremic environment suggests an involvement of uremia‐specific factors. Several uremic toxins, mostly protein‐bound, have been shown to have specific endothelial toxicity: ADMA, homocysteine, AGEs, and more recently, p‐cresyl sulfate and indoxyl sulfate. These toxins, all poorly removed by hemodialysis therapies, share mechanisms of endothelial toxicity: they promote pro‐oxidant and pro‐inflammatory response and inhibit endothelial repair. This article (i) reviews the evidence for endothelial dysfunction in CKD, (ii) specifies the involvement of protein‐bound uremic toxins in this dysfunction, and (iii) discusses therapeutic strategies for lowering uremic toxin concentrations or for countering the effects of uremic toxins on the endothelium.

Modular transcriptional repertoire analyses of adults with systemic lupus erythematosus reveal distinct type I and type II interferon signatures.

The role of interferon‐α (IFNα) in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is strongly supported by gene expression studies. The aim of this study was to improve characterization of the blood IFN signature in adult SLE patients.

Protein-bound toxins--update 2009.

Protein‐bound uremic retention solutes constitute a group whose common characteristic is their difficult removal by dialysis. In 2003, the EUTox group described 25 protein‐bound solutes. They comprised six advanced glycation end products (AGE), four phenols (including p‐cresol), six indoles (including indoxylsulfate), two hippurates, three polyamines, and two peptides, homocysteine and 3‐carboxy‐4‐methyl‐5‐propyl‐2‐furanpropionic acid (CMPF). As then, three new compounds have been added to the list: phenylacetic acid, dinucleoside polyphosphates, and IL‐18. During the last years, protein‐bound compounds have been identified as some of the main toxins involved in vascular lesions of chronic kidney disease. The removal of these solutes by conventional hemodialysis (HD) is low because only the free fraction of the solute is available for diffusion. The increase in the convective part with hemodiafiltration improves the performance of depuration but convection only applies to the free fraction and its benefit is limited. One possibility to improve the removal of a protein‐bound solute would be to stimulate its dissociation from the binding protein. This could be obtained in experiments by setting the dialysate flow rate and the dialyzer mass transfer area coefficient (KoA) at much higher levels than the plasma flow rate, or by adding to the dialysate a sorbent such as activated charcoal or albumin. In the future, specific adsorbents may be developed. Today, the only possibility is to use approaches such as daily HD and long HD which could allow better equilibration between extravascular and vascular compartments and consequently result in greater removal of protein‐bound compounds.

Does uremia cause vascular dysfunction

Vascular dysfunction induced by uremia has 4 main aspects. (1) Atherosclerosis is increased. Intima-media thickness is increased, and animal studies have established that uremia accelerates atherosclerosis. Uremic toxins are involved in several steps of atherosclerosis. Leukocyte activation is stimulated by guanidines, advanced glycation end products (AGE), p-cresyl sulfate, platelet diadenosine polyphosphates, and indoxyl sulfate. Endothelial adhesion molecules are stimulated by indoxyl sulfate. Migration and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) are stimulated by local inflammation which could be triggered by indoxyl sulfate and AGE. Uremia is associated with an increase in von Willebrand factor, thrombomodulin, plasminogen activator inhibitor 1, and matrix metalloproteinases. These factors contribute to thrombosis and plaque destabilization. There is also a decrease in nitric oxide (NO) availability, due to asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), AGE, and oxidative stress. Moreover, circulating endothelial microparticles (EMP) are increased in uremia, and inhibit the NO pathway. EMP are induced in vitro by indoxyl sulfate and p-cresyl sulfate. (2) Arterial stiffness occurs due to the loss of compliance of the vascular wall which induces an increase in pulse pressure leading to left ventricular hypertrophy and a decrease in coronary perfusion. Implicated uremic toxins are ADMA, AGE, and oxidative stress. (3) Vascular calcifications are increased in uremia. Their formation involves a transdifferentiation process of VSMC into osteoblast-like cells. Implicated uremic toxins are mainly inorganic phosphate, as well as reactive oxygen species, tumor necrosis factor and leptin. (4) Abnormalities of vascular repair and neointimal hyperplasia are due to VSMC proliferation and lead to severe reduction of vascular lumen. Restenosis after coronary angioplasty is higher in dialysis than in nondialysis patients. Arteriovenous fistula stenosis is the most common cause of thrombosis. Uremic toxins such as indoxyl sulfate and some guanidine compounds inhibit endothelial proliferation and wound repair. Endothelial progenitor cells which contribute to vessel repair are decreased and impaired in uremia, related to high serum levels of β2-microglobulin and indole-3 acetic acid. Overall, there is a link between kidney function and cardiovascular risk, as emphasized by recent meta-analyses. Moreover, an association has been reported between cardiovascular mortality and uremic toxins such as indoxyl sulfate, p-cresol and p-cresyl sulfate.

Levels of circulating endothelial progenitor cells are related to uremic toxins and vascular injury in hemodialysis patients

Summary.  Background: Patients suffering from chronic kidney diseases (CKD) exhibit cardiovascular diseases and profound endothelial dysfunction. CKD patients have reduced numbers of endothelial progenitor cells, but little is known about the factors influencing these numbers. Objectives: Among these factors, we hypothesized that uremic toxins and vascular injury affect endothelial progenitor cells. Patients/methods: Thirty‐eight hemodialysis patients were investigated and compared with 21 healthy controls. CD34+CD133+ immature progenitors, CD34+KDR+ endothelial progenitors cells (EPC) and myeloid EPC (mEPC) were counted in peripheral blood. Levels of uremic toxins β2‐microglobulin, indole‐3 acetic acid, indoxylsulfate, p‐cresylsulfate and homocysteine were measured. Vascular injury was assessed in hemodialysis (HD) patients by measuring aortic pulse wave velocity and plasma levels of endothelial microparticles. In vitro experiments were performed to study the effect of uremic toxins on apoptosis of progenitor cells. Results and conclusions: CD34+CD133+ immature progenitor cell number was negatively correlated with the levels of uremic toxins β2‐microglobulin and indole‐3 acetic acid. In vitro, indole‐3 acetic acid induced apoptosis of CD133+ cells. These data indicate uremic toxins have a deleterious role on progenitor cells, early in the differentiation process. Moreover, mEPC number was positively correlated with markers of vascular injury–pulse wave velocity and endothelial microparticle levels. This suggests that vascular lesions could stimulate progenitor cell mobilization, even in a context of reduced EPC induced by CKD. In conclusion, uremic toxins and vascular injury appear to affect endothelial progenitor cell biology in CKD.

The Cardiovascular Effect of the Uremic Solute Indole-3 Acetic Acid

In CKD, uremic solutes may induce endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, and oxidative stress, leading to increased cardiovascular risk. We investigated whether the uremic solute indole-3 acetic acid (IAA) predicts clinical outcomes in patients with CKD and has prooxidant and proinflammatory effects. We studied 120 patients with CKD. During the median study period of 966 days, 29 patients died and 35 experienced a major cardiovascular event. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that mortality and cardiovascular events were significantly higher in the higher IAA group (IAA>3.73 µM) than in the lower IAA group (IAA<3.73 µM). Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that serum IAA was a significant predictor of mortality and cardiovascular events after adjustments for age and sex; cholesterol, systolic BP, and smoking; C-reactive protein, phosphate, body mass index, and albumin; diastolic BP and history of cardiovascular disease; and uremic toxins p-cresyl sulfate and indoxyl sulfate. Notably, IAA level remained predictive of mortality when adjusted for CKD stage. IAA levels were positively correlated with markers of inflammation and oxidative stress: C-reactive protein and malondialdehyde, respectively. In cultured human endothelial cells, IAA activated an inflammatory nongenomic aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)/p38MAPK/NF-κB pathway that induced the proinflammatory enzyme cyclooxygenase-2. Additionally, IAA increased production of endothelial reactive oxygen species. In conclusion, serum IAA may be an independent predictor of mortality and cardiovascular events in patients with CKD. In vitro, IAA induces endothelial inflammation and oxidative stress and activates an inflammatory AhR/p38MAPK/NF-κB pathway.

Mortality associated with systemic lupus erythematosus in France assessed by multiple-cause-of-death analysis.

To assess the mortality profile of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients in France using multiple‐cause‐of‐death analysis.

Acute Renal Infarction: A Case Series

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Renal infarction is an arterial vascular event that may cause irreversible damage to kidney tissues. This study describes the clinical characteristics of patients with renal infarction according to underlying mechanism of vascular injury. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS This study retrospectively identified 94 patients with renal infarction diagnosed between 1989 and 2011 with the aim of highlighting potential correlations between demographic, clinical, and biologic characteristics and the etiology of renal infarction. Four groups were identified: renal infarction of cardiac origin (cardiac group, n=23), renal infarction associated with renal artery injury (renal injury group, n=29), renal infarction associated with hypercoagulability disorders (hypercoagulable group, n=15), and apparently idiopathic renal infarction (idiopathic group, n=27). RESULTS Clinical symptoms included abdominal and/or flank pain in 96.8% of cases; 46 patients had uncontrolled hypertension at diagnosis. Laboratory findings included increase of lactate dehydrogenase level (90.5%), increase in C-reactive protein level (77.6%), and renal impairment (40.4%). Compared with renal injury group patients, this study found that cardiac group patients were older (relative risk for 1 year increase=1.21, P=0.001) and displayed a lower diastolic BP (relative risk per 1 mmHg=0.94, P=0.05). Patients in the hypercoagulable group had a significantly lower diastolic BP (relative risk=0.86, P=0.005). Patients in the idiopathic group were older (relative risk=1.13, P=0.01) and less frequently men (relative risk=0.11, P=0.02). Seven patients required hemodialysis at the first evaluation, and zero patients died during the first 30 days. CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that the clinical and biologic characteristics of patients can provide valuable information about the causal mechanism involved in renal infarction occurrence.

The Clinical Spectrum and Therapeutic Management of Hypocomplementemic Urticarial Vasculitis: Data From a French Nationwide Study of Fifty‐Seven Patients

Hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis (HUV) is an uncommon vasculitis of unknown etiology that is rarely described in the literature. We undertook this study to analyze the clinical spectrum and the therapeutic management of patients with HUV.