Figure 1
From: Defective CFTR leads to aberrant β-catenin activation and kidney fibrosis
Downregulation of CFTR in UUO mouse model and human fibrotic kidneys. (a) Representative western blot showing significantly reduced CFTR expression in UUO kidneys (n = 4) compared to wild type kidneys (n = 5) after 3 days of ligation, quantification is shown in the lower panel, *p < 0.05; (Full-length blot is shown in Supplementary Figure S7a.) (b) Immunofluorescent staining showing significantly downregulated CFTR protein in the UUO kidneys compared to the wild type kidneys. Note that in normal kidney, CFTR is expressed in the apical membrane of proximal tubule cells at the corticomedullary junction (white arrow), whereas in UUO kidney, CFTR expression is dramatically downregulated and diffusely localized in the cytoplasm (white arrow), scale bar = 50 µm; (c) Immunofluorescent staining shows that CFTR protein is expressed at cell-cell adhesion and cytoplasm in tubular epithelium in normal human kidney. However, the expression of CFTR is significantly decreased in fibrotic kidney tissue (n = 2), scale bar = 20 µm. PI: Propidium Iodide.
