The Updates of Podocyte Lipid Metabolism in Proteinuric Kidney Disease

Podocytes, functionally specialized and terminally differentiated glomerular visceral epithelial cells, are critical for maintaining the structure and function of the glomerular filtration barrier. Podocyte injury is considered as the most important early event contributing to proteinuric kidney diseases such as obesity-related renal disease, diabetic kidney disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, membranous nephropathy, and minimal change disease. Although considerable advances have been made in the understanding of mechanisms that trigger podocyte injury, cell-specific and effective treatments are not clinically available.

Emerging evidence has indicated that the disorder of podocyte lipid metabolism is closely associated with various proteinuric kidney diseases. Excessive lipid accumulation in podocytes leads to cellular dysfunction which is defined as lipotoxicity, a phenomenon characterized by mitochondrial oxidative stress, actin cytoskeleton remodeling, insulin resistance, and inflammatory response that can eventually result in podocyte hypertrophy, detachment, and death. In this review, we summarize recent advances in the understanding of lipids in podocyte biological function and the regulatory mechanisms leading to podocyte lipid accumulation in proteinuric kidney disease.

Targeting podocyte lipid metabolism may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for patients with proteinuric kidney disease.