Integrative transcriptomic profiling of a mouse model of hypertension-accelerated diabetic kidney disease.

The current understanding of molecular mechanisms driving diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is limited, partly due to the complex structure of the kidney. To identify genes and signalling pathways involved in the progression of DKD, we compared kidney cortical vs. glomerular transcriptome profiles in uninephrectomized (UNx) db/db mouse models of early-stage (UNx only) and advanced (UNx plus AAV-mediated renin overexpression, UNx-Renin) DKD using RNA sequencing (RNAseq). Compared to normoglycemic db/m mice, db/db UNx and db/db UNx-Renin mice showed marked changes in kidney cortical and glomerular gene expression profiles. UNx-Renin mice displayed more marked perturbations in gene components associated with activation of the immune system and enhanced extracellular matrix remodelling, supporting histological hallmarks of progressive DKD in this model. Single-nucleus RNAseq enabled linking transcriptome profiles to specific kidney cell types. In conclusion, integration of RNAseq at the cortical, glomerular and single-nucleus level provides enhanced resolution of molecular signalling pathways associated with disease progression in preclinical models of DKD, and may thus be advantageous for identifying novel therapeutic targets in DKD.