Identification of Candidate Genes Involved in Renal Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury

Renal ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) is a main risk factor for the occurrence of delayed graft function or primary graft nonfunction of kidney transplantation. However, it lacks ideal molecular markers for indicating IRI in kidney transplantation. The present study is to explore novel candidate genes involved in renal IRI. Experimental renal IRI mouse models were constructed, and the differentially expressed genes were screened using a microarray assay. Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis were performed. The expression of genes was detected using real-time qPCR assay. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry staining assays were performed for protein determination. We identified that renal IRI induced the upregulation of SPRR2F, SPRR1A, MMP-10, and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) Malat1 in kidney tissues for 479.3-, 4.98-, 238.1-, and 3.79-fold, respectively. The expression of miR-139-5p in kidney tissues of IRI-treated mice was decreased to 40.4% compared with the sham-operated mice. These genes are associated with keratinocyte differentiation, regeneration and repair of kidney tissues, extracellular matrix degradation and remodeling, inflammation, and cell proliferation in renal IRI. Identification of novel biomarkers involved in renal IRI may provide evidences for the diagnosis and treatment of renal IRI.