Fig. 9: Effects of Gdf15 and autophagy on intestinal mucin production.

a Expression of BECN1 in patients with acute kidney injury (GSE30718). b Based on the Gdf15 levels in patients with acute kidney injury (GSE30718, left) or chronic kidney disease (GSE66494, right), we selected the 20 highest and 20 lowest level samples, followed by a comparison of BECN1 expression levels. The results are shown as a plot with Tukey whiskers. The asterisks (∗) indicate significant differences from the low-expression group (∗p < 0.05 using a two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-test). c Eight-week-old wild-type and Gdf15 knockout (KO) mice (n = 3–5) were treated with vehicle or cisplatin (CP; 20 mg/kg) for 72 h. Kidney tissue lysates were subjected to western blotting. The results are shown as a plot with Tukey whiskers. The graph shows the relative densities of light chain 3 B (LC3B) from the western blot. Different letters over bars represent significant differences between groups (p < 0.05, n = 3). d HK-2 cells transfected with control or shGdf15 vector were treated with vehicle or 10 μmol/L CP for 48 h. Cellular lysates were subjected to western blot analysis. e HK-2 cells were treated with vehicle or 10 μmol/L CP in the absence or presence of 20 μmol/L 3-methyladenine (3-MA) for 48 h. Cellular lysates were subjected to western blot analysis. Gdf15, growth differentiation factor 15.