Department of Nephrology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
School of Life Science and Technology, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China.
Front Immunol. 2024 Oct 21;15:1412826. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1412826. eCollection 2024.
Membranous nephropathy (MN) is an antibody-mediated autoimmune glomerular disease in which PLA2R1 is the main autoantibody. It has become the most common cause of adult nephrotic syndrome, and about one-third of patients can progress to end-stage kidney disease, but its pathogenesis is still unclear. Animal models can be used as suitable tools to study the pathogenesis and treatment of MN. The previous Heymann nephritis rat model and C-BSA animal model are widely used to study the pathogenesis of MN. However, the lack of target antigen expression in podocytes of model animals (especially rodents) restricts the application. In recent years, researchers constructed animal models of antigen-specific MN, such as THSD7A, PLA2R1, which more truly simulate the pathogenesis and pathological features of MN and provide more choices for the follow-up researchers. When selecting these MN models, we need to consider many aspects, including cost, difficulty of model preparation, labor force, and whether the final model can answer the research questions. This review is to comprehensively evaluate the mechanism, advantages and disadvantages and feasibility of existing animal models, and provide new reference for the pathogenesis and treatment of MN.
膜性肾病（MN）是一种抗体介导的自身免疫性肾小球疾病，其中 PLA2R1 是主要的自身抗体。它已成为成人肾病综合征的最常见原因，约三分之一的患者可进展为终末期肾病，但其发病机制仍不清楚。动物模型可用作研究 MN 的发病机制和治疗的合适工具。先前的 Heymann 肾炎大鼠模型和 C-BSA 动物模型被广泛用于研究 MN 的发病机制。然而，模型动物（尤其是啮齿动物）足细胞中靶抗原表达的缺乏限制了其应用。近年来，研究人员构建了抗原特异性 MN 的动物模型，如 THSD7A、PLA2R1，这些模型更真实地模拟了 MN 的发病机制和病理特征，为后续研究人员提供了更多选择。在选择这些 MN 模型时，我们需要考虑许多方面，包括成本、模型制备的难度、劳动力以及最终模型是否能够回答研究问题。本综述旨在全面评估现有动物模型的机制、优缺点和可行性，为 MN 的发病机制和治疗提供新的参考。
