Tumor Necrosis Factor-Like Weak Inducer of Apoptosis Accelerates the Progression of Renal Fibrosis in Lupus Nephritis by Activating SMAD and p38 MAPK in TGF-β1 Signaling Pathway

Figure 1

LV-TWEAK-shRNA treatment alleviated histopathological changes in kidneys of MRL/lpr mice. HE representative hematoxylin and eosin- (H&E-) stained sections of formalin-fixed kidneys. PAS representative micrographs of periodic acid-Schiff- (PAS-) stained sections from paraffin-embedded tissues. Masson representative micrographs of Masson-stained sections of paraffin-embedded tissue of the glomerular and interstitial. The kidney pathological scores of cell infiltration and PAS-positive and collagen deposition were shown at the bottom. Compared with those from MRL/MPJ mice, the kidneys from MRL/lpr mice which were treated with PBS or LV-Control shRNA had severe inflammatory infiltrates and histopathology changes, such as a large PAS-positive deposit in the glomeruli (black arrows), segmental overlying cellular crescent sclerosis, crescents, and periglomerular infiltrates, and accumulation of numerous fibroblasts (yellow arrows); damaged kidney tubules and blood vessels were also evident. The kidneys from MRL/MPJ mice showed intact glomerular and tubulointerstitial structures and very few fibroblasts. Control: MRL/lpr mice treated with PBS; Control shRNA: MRL/lpr mice treated with LV-Control shRNA; TWEAK-shRNA: MRL/lpr mice treated with LV-TWEAK-shRNA; and MRL/MPJ: MRL/MPJ mice as normal control. The error bars represent the standard deviation. versus MRL/MPJ mice and versus control MRL/lpr mice. Scale bar: 50 μm.