Role of Nephronectin in Metanephric Kidney Development

描述(申请人提供)：这个项目的目的是更好地了解早期肾脏发育的过程，重点是研究一种名为肾连素的蛋白质及其与α8β1结合的整合素受体。我们知道整合素α8β1对小鼠的肾脏发育至关重要：缺乏α8β1的小鼠在其他器官完好无损的情况下不会发育肾脏。我们的目标是通过胚胎肾脏的培养来研究肾脏凝集素和α8β1在肾脏发育中的特殊作用。 人类存在的众多先天性肾脏疾病凸显了研究肾脏发育的重要性。除了肾脏发育本身的重要性外，在急性损伤后对肾脏发育至关重要的分子和对肾脏修复至关重要的分子之间也存在许多相似之处。这一点尤其适用于肾脏发育的早期阶段，也就是本项目的重点。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The aim of this project is to better understand the processes of early kidney development, focusing on the study of a protein called nephronectin and the integrin receptor to which it binds alpha8beta1. We know that the integrin alpha8beta1 is critical for kidney development in mice: mice lacking alpha8 beta1 do not develop kidneys while other organs are intact. Our goal is to investigate the specific role of nephronectin, as well as alpha8beta1, in kidney development using cultures of embryonic kidney. The numerous congenital kidney diseases that exist in humans underscore the importance of studying kidney development. In addition to the importance of kidney development in its own right, many parallels exist between molecules that are important for development and molecules that are important for kidney repair after an acute injury. This is particularly true of the early stages of kidney development, which this project focuses on.