Effects of GPX3-Specific Knockout in Renal Tubular Epithelial Cells on Kidney Gene Expression During the IRI-AKI Process

GPX3 is primarily synthesized and secreted by renal tubular epithelial cells and serves as the main source of GPX3 in plasma. A portion of GPX3 adheres to the renal basement membrane, suggesting that GPX3 may also regulate renal cell physiological functions. Our previous work has found that GPX3 expression is downregulated in the renal tubular epithelial cells of mice that have undergone ischemia-reperfusion-induced acute kidney injury, but the specific impact of this downregulation remains unclear. To address this, we constructed mice with specific deletion of GPX3 in renal tubular epithelial cells and subjected them to ischemia-reperfusion modeling. We reported the protective role of native GPX3 in the kidneys under IRI-AKI conditions in mitigating oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage in tubular epithelial cells. The deletion of GPX3 in tubular epithelial cells exacerbated oxidative stress, apoptosis, and mitochondrial dysfunction in IRI-AKI. Renal cortex tissue from control and IRI-modeled mice was used for RNA sequencing. Overall, our data provide an overview of the genetic changes in the kidneys of mice with GPX3 knockout in both non-modeled and IRI-AKI-modeled conditions, laying the groundwork for studying the specific mechanisms by which GPX3 regulates renal function.