Paracrine stimulation of human renal fibroblasts by proximal tubule cells

Paracrine stimulation of human renal fibroblasts by proximal tubule cells. BACKGROUND: Interstitial fibrosis strongly predicts the degree and progression of renal failure in human renal disorders. Since active fibrosis tends to initially occur in a peritubular distribution, the possibility that human proximal tubule cells (PTC) relay fibrogenic signals to neighboring cortical fibroblasts was examined in vitro. METHODS: Cell proliferation (cell counts and thymidine incorporation), total collagen synthesis (proline incorporation), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity (gelatin zymography), and autocrine secretion of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) were measured in primary cultures of human cortical fibroblasts cocultured with PTC or exposed to PTC-conditioned media (PTCCM). RESULTS: Cell numbers and thymidine incorporation rates were increased in cortical fibroblasts cocultured with PTC (136.4+/-7.3% and 119.3+/-8.2% of control values, respectively, P < 0.05) or incubated in PTC-CM (114.0+/-5.9%, P < 0.05 and 146.7+/-13.3%, P < 0.05, respectively). PTC-CM stimulated cortical fibroblast collagen synthesis (13.5+/-1.0% vs. 10.8+/-0.7%, respectively, N = 24, P < 0.05) and MMP-2 and MMP-9 secretion. Cortical fibroblast secretion of IGF-I binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), which in turn modulates the autocrine and paracrine actions of IGF-I, was enhanced in the presence of PTC-CM compared with control (1162.2+/-94.2 vs. 969.1+/-58.9 ng/mg protein/day, P < 0.05), but no change was observed in cortical fibroblast secretion of IGFBP-2 (260.9+/-38.8 vs. 290.9+/-36.6 ng/mg protein/day, P = NS) or IGF-I (56.7+/-6.6 vs. 57.0+/-6.8 ng/mg protein/day, P = NS). Human PTC secreted transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) and the AB heterodimer of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-AB) in a time-dependent fashion and the augmentation of cortical fibroblasts mitogenesis, collagen synthesis and IGFBP-3 secretion induced by PTC-CM was replicated by exogenous TGF-beta1 and PDGF. Furthermore, the stimulatory effects of PTC on cortical fibroblasts were potentiated in transiently acidified PTC-CM (which activated latent TGF-beta1), and were abrogated by neutralizing antibodies specifically directed against TGF-beta1 and PDGF-AB. Cortical fibroblasts in turn released a soluble factor(s) into cortical fibroblast-conditioned media that reciprocally stimulated PDGF-AB production by PTC (4.79+/-1.55 vs. 0.78+/-.06 ng/mg protein/day, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: PTC modulate the biological behavior of neighboring cortical fibroblasts in the human kidney through paracrine mechanisms, which include the production and release of PDGF-AB and TGF-beta1. Renal insults that result in proximal tubule injury may perturb this paracrine interaction, thereby culminating in excessive fibroblast proliferation and interstitial fibrosis.