Department of Nephrology, Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, PR China.
Ren Fail. 2012;34(3):403-7. doi: 10.3109/0886022X.2011.649627. Epub 2012 Jan 17.
Podocyte loss is an important component of disease progression in glomerular diseases. To some extent, the loss of podocytes can predict the degree of damage and the advancement of renal disease. Detecting the loss of podocytes in the urine could be a valuable, noninvasive method for obtaining information about the activity of the disease or the disease type, allowing the early diagnosis of glomerular diseases. One of the most robust markers that has been successfully used for urinary podocyte diagnostics is podocalyxin (PDX). PDX is a sialoprotein that is expressed on podocytes and on a variety of nonrenal cells as well as on glomerular endothelial and parietal epithelial cells. Therefore, podocyte loss can be detected by the amount of PDX in the urine. The relationship between urinary podocytes and renal diseases is supported by the detection of podocytes in patients with immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy, Henoch-Schönlein purpura nephritis, lupus nephritis, diabetic nephropathy, and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. The use of technology for detecting podocytes in the urine would have broad implications for the evaluation of disease activity, the degree of dedifferentiation, and the possibility of regeneration.
足细胞丢失是肾小球疾病进展的一个重要组成部分。在某种程度上，足细胞的丢失可以预测损伤的程度和肾脏疾病的进展。检测尿液中的足细胞丢失可能是一种有价值的、非侵入性的方法，可以获得有关疾病活动或疾病类型的信息，从而早期诊断肾小球疾病。迄今为止，用于尿足细胞诊断的最可靠标志物之一是足细胞蛋白（PDX）。PDX 是一种唾液酸糖蛋白，在足细胞以及各种非肾细胞以及肾小球内皮细胞和壁层上皮细胞上表达。因此，可以通过尿液中 PDX 的量来检测足细胞的丢失。尿足细胞与肾脏疾病之间的关系得到了免疫球蛋白 A (IgA) 肾病、过敏性紫癜肾炎、狼疮性肾炎、糖尿病肾病和局灶节段性肾小球硬化症患者中足细胞检测的支持。检测尿液中足细胞的技术的应用将对疾病活动、去分化程度和再生可能性的评估具有广泛的意义。
