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Wnt/β-catenin signaling in kidney repair and fibrosis after injury

REN Qian, CHEN Jiong-Cheng, LIU Youhua^*

Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, National Clinical Research Center of Kidney Disease, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China

Abstract

Wnt/β-catenin is an evolutionarily conserved, complex developmental signal pathway that regulates embryogenesis, cell fate, tissue homeostasis, injury repair, and the pathogenesis of human diseases. Mounting evidence demonstrates that Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays a key role in early nephrogenesis. It is relatively silent in normal adult kidneys but reactivated in a wide variety of animal models of nephropathies and in human kidney diseases. Activation of Wnt/β-catenin after acute kidney injury contributes to proper repair and regeneration of damaged renal tubules. However, sustained activation of this signal cascade is closely related to the development and progression of fibrotic chronic kidney disease. In this paper, we systematically review the components and mechanisms of Wnt/β-catenin signaling and its role in kidney repair and fibrosis after injury. A better delineation of the mechanisms of this pathway will provide novel targets and new strategies for designing effective treatment of various kidney diseases. 

Key words: Wnt/β-catenin; acute kidney injury; injury repair; kidney fibrosis; chronic kidney disease

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 刘友华　　E-mail: liuyh@smu.edu.cn

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2022.0003

Citing This Article：

REN Qian, CHEN Jiong-Cheng, LIU Youhua. Wnt/β-catenin signaling in kidney repair and fibrosis after injury. Acta Physiol Sin 2022; 74 (1): 15-27 (in Chinese with English abstract).