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Updated: Aug 20, 2025
Analyses of Proteinuria, Renal Infiltration of Leukocytes, and Renal Deposition of Proteins in Lupus-prone MRL/lpr Mice
Published on: June 8, 2022
Elevated expression of receptors for EGF, PDGF, transferrin and folate within murine and human lupus nephritis
Sylvia Xie1, Anto Sam Crosslee Louis Sam Titus1, Chandra Mohan1
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States of America.
Objective:
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease where the body's immune system targets cells and tissue in numerous organs, including the kidneys. Lupus nephritis (LN) is a highly heterogeneous disease, and diagnosis is difficult because clinical manifestations vary widely among patients. Comprehensive proteomic studies reported recently in LN have identified several urinary proteins which are also cell-surface receptors. If indeed these receptor proteins are also hyper-expressed within the kidneys, ligands to these receptors may be useful for drug targeting.
Methods:
scRNA sequence data analysis and immunohistochemistry were performed on LN kidneys for expression of four implicated receptors, EGFR, FOL2R2, PDGF-RB, and TFRC.
Results:
In reported scRNA sequencing studies from 21 LN patients and 3 healthy control renal biopsies or renal-infiltrating immune cells from 24 LN biopsies, EGFR, FOLR2, PDGF-Rb, and TFRC were all hyper expressed within LN kidneys in comparison to healthy kidneys, either within resident renal cells or infiltrating leukocytes. Immunohistochemistry staining of murine lupus renal biopsies from lupus mice revealed EGFR, FOLR2, TFRC and PDGF-RB were elevated in LN kidneys. Immunohistochemistry staining of human Class II, Class III, and Class IV kidney tissue sections revealed EGFR, TFRC, and PDGF-RB were significantly elevated in proliferative LN kidneys.
Conclusion:
These findings underscore the potential of EGFR, TFRC, FOLR2, and PDGF-RB as promising receptors for potential drug-targeting in LN.
