Human, rat, and mouse kidney cells express functional erythropoietin receptors

Erythropoietin (EPO), secreted by fibroblast-like cells in the renal interstitium, controls erythropoiesis by regulating the survival, proliferation, and differentiation of erythroid progenitor cells. We examined whether renal cells that are exposed to EPO express EPO receptors (EPO-R) through which analogous cytokine responses might be elicited.

Normal human and rat kidney tissue and defined cell lines of human, rat, and mouse kidney were screened, using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, nucleotide sequencing, ligand binding, and Western blotting, for the expression of EPO-R. EPO's effects on DNA synthesis and cell proliferation were also examined.

EPO-R transcripts were readily detected in cortex, medulla, and papilla of human and rat kidney, in mesangial (human, rat), proximal tubular (human, mouse), and medullary collecting duct cells (human). Nucleotide sequences of EPO-R cDNAs from renal cells were identical to those of erythroid precursor cells. Specific 125I-EPO binding revealed a single class of high- to intermediate-affinity EPO-Rs in each tested cell line (kD 96 pm to 1. 4 nm; Bmax 0.3 to 7.0 fmol/mg protein). Western blots of murine proximal tubular cell membranes revealed an EPO-R protein of approximately 68 kDa. EPO stimulated DNA synthesis and cell proliferation dose dependently.

This is the first direct demonstration, to our knowledge, that renal cells possess EPO-Rs through which EPO stimulates mitogenesis. This suggests currently unrecognized cytokine functions for EPO in the kidney, which may prove beneficial in the repair of an injured kidney while being potentially detrimental in renal malignancies.