{"title":"Adding insult to injury: the spectrum of tubulointerstitial responses in acute kidney injury.","authors":"Megan L Baker, Lloyd G Cantley","doi":"10.1172/JCI188358","DOIUrl":"10.1172/JCI188358","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Acute kidney injury (AKI) encompasses pathophysiology ranging from glomerular hypofiltration to tubular cell injury and outflow obstruction. This Review will focus on the tubulointerstitial processes that underlie most cases of AKI. Tubular epithelial cell (TEC) injury can occur via distinct insults, including ischemia, nephrotoxins, sepsis, and primary immune-mediated processes. Following these initial insults, tubular cells can activate survival and repair responses or they can develop mitochondrial dysfunction and metabolic reprogramming, cell-cycle arrest, and programmed cell death. Developing evidence suggests that the fate of individual tubular cells to survive and proliferate or undergo cell death or senescence is frequently determined by a biphasic immune response with initial proinflammatory macrophage, neutrophil, and lymphocyte infiltration exacerbating injury and activating programmed cell death, while alternatively activated macrophages and specific lymphocyte subsets subsequently modulate inflammation and promote repair. Functional recovery requires that this reparative phase supports proteolytic degradation of tubular casts, proliferation of surviving TECs, and restoration of TEC differentiation. Incomplete resolution or persistence of inflammation can lead to failed tubular repair, fibrosis, and chronic kidney disease. Despite extensive research in animal models, translating preclinical findings to therapies remains challenging, emphasizing the need for integrated multiomic approaches to advance AKI understanding and treatment.</p>","PeriodicalId":15469,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Investigation","volume":"135 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11910233/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143648724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maude A Liegeois, Aileen Hsieh, May Al-Fouadi, Annabelle R Charbit, Chen Xi Yang, Tillie-Louise Hackett, John V Fahy
{"title":"Cellular and molecular features of asthma mucus plugs provide clues about their formation and persistence.","authors":"Maude A Liegeois, Aileen Hsieh, May Al-Fouadi, Annabelle R Charbit, Chen Xi Yang, Tillie-Louise Hackett, John V Fahy","doi":"10.1172/JCI186889","DOIUrl":"10.1172/JCI186889","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>BACKGROUNDMucus plugs form in acute asthma and persist in chronic disease. Although eosinophils are implicated in mechanisms of mucus pathology, many mechanistic details about mucus plug formation and persistence in asthma are unknown.METHODSUsing histology and spatial, single-cell proteomics, we characterized mucus-plugged airways from nontransplantable donor lungs of 14 patients with asthma (9 with fatal asthma and 5 with nonfatal asthma) and individuals acting as controls (10 with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 14 free of lung disease). Additionally, we used an airway epithelial cell-eosinophil (AEC-eosinophil) coculture model to explore how AEC mucus affects eosinophil degranulation.RESULTSAsthma mucus plugs were tethered to airways showing infiltration with innate lymphoid type 2 cells and hyperplasia of smooth muscle cells and MUC5AC-expressing goblet cells. Asthma mucus plugs were infiltrated with immune cells that were mostly dual positive for eosinophil peroxidase (EPX) and neutrophil elastase, suggesting that neutrophils internalize EPX from degranulating eosinophils. Indeed, eosinophils exposed to mucus from IL-13-activated AECs underwent CD11b- and glycan-dependent cytolytic degranulation. Dual-positive granulocytes varied in frequency in mucus plugs. Whereas paucigranulocytic plugs were MUC5AC rich, granulocytic plugs had a mix of MUC5AC, MUC5B, and extracellular DNA traps. Paucigranulocytic plugs occurred more frequently in (acute) fatal asthma and granulocytic plugs predominated in (chronic) nonfatal asthma.CONCLUSIONTogether, our data suggest that mucin-rich mucus plugs in fatal asthma form because of acute goblet cell degranulation in remodeled airways and that granulocytic mucus plugs in chronic asthma persist because of a sustaining niche characterized by epithelial cell-mucin-granulocyte cross-talk.FUNDINGNIH grants HL080414, HL107202, and AI077439.</p>","PeriodicalId":15469,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Investigation","volume":"135 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11910225/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143648684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Expanding the bandwidth of checkpoint inhibitors for cancer using epigenetic regulators.","authors":"Daniel J Brat","doi":"10.1172/JCI188611","DOIUrl":"10.1172/JCI188611","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":15469,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Investigation","volume":"135 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11910207/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143648823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Oncostatin M silence and neopeptide: the value of exploring patients with rare inherited bone marrow failure.","authors":"Selket Delafontaine, Isabelle Meyts","doi":"10.1172/JCI190955","DOIUrl":"10.1172/JCI190955","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Inherited bone marrow failure syndromes (IBMFSs) encompass a diverse group of hematological disorders characterized by a progressive single-lineage cytopenia or pancytopenia. Despite their heterogeneity, these syndromes often result from genetic errors affecting key biological mechanisms, including telomere maintenance, DNA repair and chromosomal stability, and ribosome assembly, generally leading to accelerated apoptosis of hematopoietic cells. Nevertheless, a genetic diagnosis remains elusive in more than half of the cases. The increased risk of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), acute leukemia, and solid tumors associated with IBMFS frequently prompts early hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). In this issue of the JCI, Garrigue, Kermasson, and colleagues identified a homozygous variant in Oncostatin M (OSM) in 3 children from a consanguineous family presenting with IBMFS characterized by profound anemia, thrombocytopenia, and neutropenia. The findings suggest that the loss-of-function OSM variant affected hematopoietic stem cell function through changes to the bone marrow microenvironment (BMM).</p>","PeriodicalId":15469,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Investigation","volume":"135 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11910221/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143648836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sensing mycobacteria through unconventional pathways.","authors":"Catarina F Almeida, Jennifer A Juno","doi":"10.1172/JCI190230","DOIUrl":"10.1172/JCI190230","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Approximately one-quarter of the global population is estimated to be infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. New developments in vaccine design and therapeutics are urgently needed, particularly in the face of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). In this issue of the JCI, Sakai and colleagues used a multidisciplinary approach to determine that trehalose-6-monomycolate (TMM), a mycobacterial cell wall lipid, serves as a T cell antigen presented by CD1b. CD1b-TMM-specific T cells were characterized by conserved T cell receptor features and were present at elevated frequencies in individuals with active TB disease. These findings highlight the dual role of TMM in stimulating both innate and adaptive immunity and broaden our understanding of CD1-mediated lipid recognition by unconventional T cells.</p>","PeriodicalId":15469,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Investigation","volume":"135 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11910222/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143648839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Nonvesicular cholesterol transport in physiology.","authors":"Alessandra Ferrari, Peter Tontonoz","doi":"10.1172/JCI188127","DOIUrl":"10.1172/JCI188127","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In mammalian cells cholesterol can be synthesized endogenously or obtained exogenously through lipoprotein uptake. Plasma membrane (PM) is the primary intracellular destination for both sources of cholesterol, and maintaining appropriate membrane cholesterol levels is critical for cellular viability. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) acts as a cellular cholesterol sensor, regulating synthesis in response to cellular needs and determining the metabolic fates of cholesterol. Upon reaching the ER, cholesterol can be esterified to facilitate its incorporation into lipoproteins and lipid droplets or converted into other molecules such as bile acids and oxysterols. In recent years, it has become clear that the intracellular redistribution of lipids, including cholesterol, is critical for the regulation of various biological processes. This Review highlights physiology and mechanisms of nonvesicular (protein-mediated) intracellular cholesterol trafficking, with a focus on the role of Aster proteins in PM to ER cholesterol transport.</p>","PeriodicalId":15469,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Investigation","volume":"135 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11910210/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143648875","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Macrophages: key conductors behind perivascular inflammation and vascular remodeling in hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension.","authors":"Edda Spiekerkoetter","doi":"10.1172/JCI190957","DOIUrl":"10.1172/JCI190957","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pulmonary hypertension (PH) encompasses a heterogenous group of disorders with the common feature of increased pulmonary arterial pressures. Patients with PH associated with lung disease and/or hypoxia undergo immune-mediated vascular remodeling that includes thickening of the muscular layer surrounding arteries and arterioles. In this issue of the JCI, Kumar and colleagues examined the role of interstitial macrophages in a model of high-altitude PH. Resident interstitial macrophages increased, proliferated, and expressed CCL2, a monocyte chemoattractant ligand. There was also a rise in CCR2+ macrophages expressing thrombospondin-1, which is known to activate vascular remodeling through TGF-β. Blocking monocyte recruitment partially reduced hypoxic PH, and corticosteroid treatment effectively reduced CCL2 expression and CCR2+ monocyte recruitment. Further, plasma samples collected from individuals ascending from low to high altitudes showed increased thrombospondin-1 and TGF-β levels, which were reduced with dexamethasone. These findings reveal interstitial macrophage populations as potential therapeutic targets in hypoxic PH.</p>","PeriodicalId":15469,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Investigation","volume":"135 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11910220/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143648872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Svenja Weiss, Hung-Mo Lin, Eric Acosta, Natalia L Komarova, Ping Chen, Dominik Wodarz, Ian Baine, Ralf Duerr, Ania Wajnberg, Adrian Gervais, Paul Bastard, Jean-Laurent Casanova, Suzanne A Arinsburg, Talia H Swartz, Judith A Aberg, Nicole M Bouvier, Sean Th Liu, Raymond A Alvarez, Benjamin K Chen
{"title":"Post-transfusion activation of coagulation pathways during severe COVID-19 correlates with COVID-19 convalescent plasma antibody profiles.","authors":"Svenja Weiss, Hung-Mo Lin, Eric Acosta, Natalia L Komarova, Ping Chen, Dominik Wodarz, Ian Baine, Ralf Duerr, Ania Wajnberg, Adrian Gervais, Paul Bastard, Jean-Laurent Casanova, Suzanne A Arinsburg, Talia H Swartz, Judith A Aberg, Nicole M Bouvier, Sean Th Liu, Raymond A Alvarez, Benjamin K Chen","doi":"10.1172/JCI181136","DOIUrl":"10.1172/JCI181136","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Early antibody therapy can prevent severe SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19). However, the effectiveness of COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) therapy in treating severe COVID-19 remains inconclusive. To test a hypothesis that some CCP units are associated with a coagulopathy hazard in severe disease that offsets its benefits, we tracked 304 CCP units administered to 414 hospitalized COVID-19 patients to assess their association with the onset of unfavorable post-transfusion D-dimer trends. CCP recipients with increasing or persistently elevated D-dimer trajectories after transfusion experienced higher mortality than those whose D-dimer levels were persistently low or decreasing after transfusion. Within the CCP donor-recipient network, recipients with increasing or persistently high D-dimer trajectories were skewed toward association with a minority of CCP units. In in vitro assays, CCP from \"higher-risk\" units had higher cross-reactivity with the spike protein of human seasonal betacoronavirus OC43. \"Higher-risk\" CCP units also mediated greater Fcγ receptor IIa signaling against cells expressing SARS-CoV-2 spike compared with \"lower-risk\" units. This study finds that post-transfusion activation of coagulation pathways during severe COVID-19 is associated with specific CCP antibody profiles and supports a potential mechanism of immune complex-activated coagulopathy.</p>","PeriodicalId":15469,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Investigation","volume":"135 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":13.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11910229/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143648838","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}