Role and Mechanism of Growth Differentiation Factor 15 in Chronic Kidney Disease

Yifang Tang; Tao Liu; Shibo Sun; Youbo Peng; Xiaoxiao Huang; Shuangquan Wang; Zhu Zhou

doi:10.2147/JIR.S451398

Role and Mechanism of Growth Differentiation Factor 15 in Chronic Kidney Disease

J Inflamm Res. 2024 May 9:17:2861-2871. doi: 10.2147/JIR.S451398. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Yifang Tang^#¹, Tao Liu^#², Shibo Sun³, Youbo Peng¹, Xiaoxiao Huang⁴, Shuangquan Wang⁴, Zhu Zhou¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nephrology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, People's Republic of China.
² Organ Transplantation Center, the First Affiliated Hospital, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Department of Nephrology, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture People's Hospital, Xishuangbanna, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

GDF-15 is an essential member of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily. Its functions mainly involve in tissue injury, inflammation, fibrosis, regulation of appetite and weight, development of tumor, and cardiovascular disease. GDF-15 is involved in various signaling pathways, such as MAPK pathway, PI3K/AKT pathway, STAT3 pathway, RET pathway, and SMAD pathway. In addition, several factors such as p53, ROS, and TNF-α participate the regulation of GDF-15. However, the specific mechanism of these factors regulating GDF-15 is still unclear and more research is needed to explore them. GDF-15 mainly improves the function of kidneys in CKD and plays an important role in the prediction of CKD progression and cardiovascular complications. In addition, the role of GDF-15 in the kidney may be related to the SMAD and MAPK pathways. However, the specific mechanism of these pathways remains unclear. Accordingly, more research on the specific mechanism of GDF-15 affecting kidney disease is needed in the future. In conclusion, GDF-15 may be a therapeutic target for kidney disease.

Keywords: GDF-15; biomarker; chronic kidney disease; inflammation; renal protection.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Yunnan Major Scientific and Technological Project, (grant no. 202102AA100060), Yunnan Revitalization Talent Support Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 82160007), the Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department (grant no. 2019FE001(−58), 202201AY070001(−074)), Yunnan Province young and middle-aged academic and technical leaders reserve talent project (grant no. 202305AC160017), 535 Talent Project of First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University (grant no. 2023535D12), and Student Innovation Fund project of Kunming Medical University (grant no.2022JXD212, 2022JXD227).