ArticleScientific reports2023
Mycophenolic acid directly protects podocytes by preserving the actin cytoskeleton and increasing cell survival.
Article in Scientific reports, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Immune mechanisms and immunomodulatory therapies in steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome.Renal failure · 2025Review
- The CaPediatric nephrology (Berlin, Germany) · 2025Review
- The effect of mycophenolate mofetil on podocytes in nephrotoxic serum nephritis.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Understanding the podocyte immune responses in proteinuric kidney diseases: from pathogenesis to therapy.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Mycophenolate Mofetil (MMF) has an established role as a therapeutic agent in childhood nephrotic syndrome. While other immunosuppressants have been shown to positively affect podocytes, direct effects of MMF on podocytes remain largely unknown. The present study examines the effects of MMF's active component Mycophenolic Acid (MPA) on the transcriptome of podocytes and investigates its biological significance. We performed transcriptomics in cultured murine podocytes exposed to MPA to generate hypotheses on podocyte-specific effects of MPA. Accordingly, we further analyzed biological MPA effects on actin cytoskeleton morphology after treatment with bovine serum albumin (BSA) by immunofluorescence staining, as well as on cell survival following exposure to TNF-α and cycloheximide by neutral red assay. MPA treatment significantly (adjusted p < 0.05) affected expression of 351 genes in podocytes. Gene Ontology term enrichment analysis particularly clustered terms related to actin and inflammation-related cell death. Indeed, quantification of the actin cytoskeleton of BSA treated podocytes revealed a significant increase of thickness and number of actin filaments after treatment with MPA. Further, MPA significantly reduced TNFα and cycloheximide induced cell death. MPA has a substantial effect on the transcriptome of podocytes in vitro, particularly including functional clusters related to non-immune cell dependent mechanisms. This may provide a molecular basis for direct beneficial effects of MPA on the structural integrity and survival of podocytes under pro-inflammatory conditions.
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