PUM2 Lowers HDAC9 mRNA Stability to Improve Contrast-Induced Acute Kidney Injury through Attenuating Oxidative Stress and Promoting Autophagy.

Background: Contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CIAKI) is the third cause of hospital-acquired acute kidney injury and diabetes mellitus (DM) was identified as a risk factor for CIAKI. However, the molecular mechanism underlying DM-CIAKI remains unclear, which needs further investigation.

Methods: DM-CIAKI models of mice and cells were established. The functions of kidneys were evaluated by detecting indicators and using hematoxylin and eosin staining. The abundance of genes and proteins was evaluated by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, and Western blot. Glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and malondialdehyde were measured using commercial kits and reactive oxygen species was detected using dihydroethidium (DHE) probe and 2',7'-dichloroflfluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) method. Apoptosis of tissues and cells was evaluated by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL). Cell viability and proliferation were measured using Cell Counting Kit-8 and 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) assay. The interaction between pumilio RNA binding family member 2 (PUM2) and histone deacetylase 9 (HDAC9) was validated using RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and RNA pull-down.

Results: PUM2 expression was observably reduced in DM-CIAKI models while HDAC9 expression was notably boosted. Subsequently, PUM2 silencing resulted in aggravation of kidney injury in DM-CIAKI mice through enhancing oxidative stress and suppressing autophagy, while HDAC9 inhibitor or HDAC9 silencing achieved the opposite results. In terms of mechanism, PUM2 could suppress stability of HDAC9 mRNA to attenuate HDAC9 expression. Furthermore, HDAC9 overexpression abolished PUM2 overexpression-mediated oxidative stress inhibition and autophagy promotion in high glucose and contrast media treatments-induced human kidney-2 (HK-2) cells.

Conclusion: PUM2 overexpression suppressed oxidative stress and promoted autophagy to alleviate renal injury in DM-CIAKI through interacting with HDAC9 mRNA, which mediated degradation of HDAC9 mRNA and inhibition of HDAC9 expression.