Ferroptosis: an important player in the inflammatory response in diabetic nephropathy

Jialing Li; Luxin Li; Zhen Zhang; Peijian Chen; Haiying Shu; Can Yang; Yanhui Chu; Jieting Liu

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1294317

Ferroptosis: an important player in the inflammatory response in diabetic nephropathy

Front Immunol. 2023 Dec 4:14:1294317. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1294317. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jialing Li^#¹, Luxin Li^#^{1

2}, Zhen Zhang^#^{2

3}, Peijian Chen^{1

2}, Haiying Shu¹, Can Yang¹, Yanhui Chu^{1

2}, Jieting Liu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Life Sciences, Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang, China.
² Heilongjiang Key Laboratory of Anti-Fibrosis Biotherapy, Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang, China.
³ School of First Clinical Medical College, Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects millions of diabetic patients worldwide. The key to treating of DN is early diagnosis and prevention. Once the patient enters the clinical proteinuria stage, renal damage is difficult to reverse. Therefore, developing early treatment methods is critical. DN pathogenesis results from various factors, among which the immune response and inflammation play major roles. Ferroptosis is a newly discovered type of programmed cell death characterized by iron-dependent lipid peroxidation and excessive ROS production. Recent studies have demonstrated that inflammation activation is closely related to the occurrence and development of ferroptosis. Moreover, hyperglycemia induces iron overload, lipid peroxidation, oxidative stress, inflammation, and renal fibrosis, all of which are related to DN pathogenesis, indicating that ferroptosis plays a key role in the development of DN. Therefore, this review focuses on the regulatory mechanisms of ferroptosis, and the mutual regulatory processes involved in the occurrence and development of DN and inflammation. By discussing and analyzing the relationship between ferroptosis and inflammation in the occurrence and development of DN, we can deepen our understanding of DN pathogenesis and develop new therapeutics targeting ferroptosis or inflammation-related regulatory mechanisms for patients with DN.

Keywords: diabetic nephropathy; ferroptosis; inflammation; oxidative stress; signaling pathway.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Diabetes Mellitus* / metabolism
Diabetic Nephropathies* / pathology
Ferroptosis*
Humans
Inflammation / metabolism
Kidney / pathology
Oxidative Stress

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (No. LH2022H099), the Local Colleges and Universities Talent Development Funding from Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Finance (No. 2020GSP09), the Torch Program of Mudanjiang Medical University (No. 2022-MYHJ-003), the Science and Technology Plan Project of Mudanjiang (No. HT2020NS101) and the Project of Young Innovative Talents Training Program of Regular Undergraduate Colleges and Universities in Heilongjiang Province (No. UNPYSCT-2020064).