Interleukin-13 promotes expression of Alix to compromise renal tubular epithelial barrier function

The epithelial barrier dysfunction plays a critical role in a number of kidney diseases. The mechanism is unclear. Alix is a protein involving in protein degradation in epithelial cells. This study aims to investigate that interleukin (IL)-13 inhibits Alix to compromise the kidney epithelial barrier function. In this study, the murine collecting duct cell line (M-1) was cultured in Transwell inserts to investigate the significance of Alix in compromising the epithelial barrier functions. T cell (Teff cells) proliferation assay was employed to assess the antigenicity of ovalbumin (OVA) that was transported across the M-1 monolayer barrier. The results showed that M-1 cells express Alix. Exposure to interleukin (IL)-13 markedly decreased the expression of Alix in M-1 cells, which compromised the M-1 monolayer barrier functions by showing the increases in the permeability to OVA. Over-expression of Alix abolished the IL-13-induced M-1 monolayer barrier dysfunction. Knockdown of Alix significantly increased M-1 monolayer permeability. The OVA collected from the Transwell basal chambers induced the OVA-specific T cell proliferation. We conclude that IL-13 compromises M-1 epithelial barrier functions via inhibiting Alix expression.