Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41035016›Full record

ArticleHereditas2025

Inhibition of ferroptosis-related NCF2 blocks the progression of lupus nephritis by activating PPARα pathway.

Shiling Zhong, Yunyan Li, Yuanling Chen, Wei Jiang, Jika Zheng, Ling Wu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Hereditas, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Shiling ZhongDepartment of Pediatric Rheumatology and Immunology, Women and Children's Hospital of Ningbo University, No. 339 Liuting Street, Haishu District, Ningbo, 315000, Zhejiang, China.
Yunyan LiDepartment of Pediatric Rheumatology and Immunology, Women and Children's Hospital of Ningbo University, No. 339 Liuting Street, Haishu District, Ningbo, 315000, Zhejiang, China.
Yuanling ChenDepartment of Pediatric Rheumatology and Immunology, Women and Children's Hospital of Ningbo University, No. 339 Liuting Street, Haishu District, Ningbo, 315000, Zhejiang, China.
Wei JiangDepartment of Pediatric Rheumatology and Immunology, Women and Children's Hospital of Ningbo University, No. 339 Liuting Street, Haishu District, Ningbo, 315000, Zhejiang, China.
Jika ZhengDepartment of Pediatric Rheumatology and Immunology, Women and Children's Hospital of Ningbo University, No. 339 Liuting Street, Haishu District, Ningbo, 315000, Zhejiang, China.
Ling WuDepartment of Pediatric Rheumatology and Immunology, Women and Children's Hospital of Ningbo University, No. 339 Liuting Street, Haishu District, Ningbo, 315000, Zhejiang, China. wuling_ningbo@163.com.

Funding

Ningbo Natural Science Foundation Project 2024J312Zhejiang Province Medical and Health Science and Technology Plan Project 2025KY272Zhejiang Province's' "Small but Strong" Clinical Cultivation Innovation Team CXTD202502005
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFerroptosis is involved in the pathogenesis of Lupus nephritis (LN), but its mechanism of action in LN remains unknown. This study aims to explore the effect of the ferroptositic-related gene neutrophil cytosolic factor 2 (NCF2) on LN and its potential downstream mechanism.

methodDifferentially expressed genes (DEGs) between LN tissues and control tissues were screened out using "limma" R package. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was used to identify the key modules related to inflammation in LN based on DEGs. The genes associated with ferroptosis were obtained from the FerrDb database. Support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE) was used to screen candidate key genes. The expression and the diagnostic ability of candidate key genes was evaluated using an external validation set. Immune infiltration analysis was performed using CIBERSORT. Gene set enrichment analysis was used to reveal the molecular mechanisms of key genes. A cell model of LN was constructed using lipopolysaccharide (LPS) -induced human renal cortical proximal tubule epithelial cells HK-2 to explore the potential functions and mechanisms of the key gene NCF2 in LN.

resultNine ferroptosis-related genes in LN were obtained after cross-analysis, and six candidate genes were screened out using machine learning approach. Among them, NCF2 was identified as a key gene related to ferroptosis in LN. The expression of NCF2 was positively correlated with the infiltration levels of pro-inflammatory cells such as monocytes and M1 macrophages, and negatively correlated with those of anti-inflammatory cells such as regulatory T cells (Tregs). NCF2-related DEGs were significantly enriched in the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling pathway. In vitro experiments demonstrated that knocking down NCF2 significantly inhibited LPS-induced suppression of viability, apoptosis, inflammatory response and ferroptosis of HK-2 cells. NCF2 knockdown also inhibited ferroptosis by activating the PPARα pathway.

conclusionNCF2 is a key regulatory factor of LN. Its knockdown inhibits ferroptosis by activating the PPARα signaling, thereby alleviating inflammatory injury of renal tubular epithelial cells. Targeting NCF2 may provide a new strategy for the treatment of LN.

Indexed as

FerroptosisLupus NephritisNADPH OxidasesPPAR alphaCell LineDisease ProgressionGene Regulatory NetworksHumansSignal TransductionNADPH OxidasesNCF2 protein, humanPPAR alphaPPARA protein, humanFerroptosisLupus nephritisNCF2PPARα

Identifiers

PMID41035016
PMCPMC12487152

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.