The tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily (TNFSF) members play crucial roles in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic kidney diseases. They orchestrate inflammation, cell survival, tissue repair as well as fibrosis in kidneys upon injury by engaging respective receptors on the cell membranes. Therefore, the TNFSF ligands, as well as their receptors, have gained enormous interest as putative drug targets to combat kidney diseases. It was shown that the expression profiles of TNFSF ligands differ in human and mice solid organs, as well as during acute kidney injuries and chronic kidney diseases in mice. This indicates that the mRNA expressions of TNFSF ligands highly depend on the species and nature of the injury, which needs to be given appropriate consideration while extrapolating the data between species and between different kidney diseases. The protocol presented here describes the use of real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to quantify the mRNA expressions of TNFSF ligands in healthy and injured murine kidneys.
Keywords: Cell death; Glomerulonephritis; Immune response; Inflammation; Mouse; Tubulointerstitial fibrosis; qPCR.