IKKα is involved in kidney recovery and regeneration of acute ischemia/reperfusion injury in mice through IL-10-producing regulatory T cells

Abstract

The recovery phase after kidney ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury is associated often with the suppression of inflammation and the proliferation of tubular epithelial cells (TECs). The duration of the recovery phase after kidney ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury is often determined by the suppression of inflammation and the proliferation of tubular epithelial cells (TECs).Several lines of evidence suggest that IκB kinase alpha (IKKα) not only promotes the production of anti-inflammatory factors and/or prevents the production of inflammatory factors, but also induces cell differentiation and regeneration accompanied and suppresses inflammation. We hypothesized that IKKα could participate in the kidney repair after IR injury. In this study, using a mouse of acute kidney injury (AKI) model, we found that IKKα mediated the repairing of kidney by infiltrated Treg cells, which can produce anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. And that IKKα culminated in the proliferation of the surviving TECs and suppression of inflammation. In addition, we proved that the expression of indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) expression in TECs was consistent with the infiltration of IL-10 producing Treg cells. We conclude that IKKα is involved in kidney recovery and regeneration through the Treg cells that can produce IL-10, which might be a potential therapeutic target used to promote kidney repair after IR injury.