The global burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) intertwined with cardiovascular disease has become a major health problem. Oxidative stress (OS) plays an important role in the pathophysiology of CKD. The nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)-antioxidant responsive element (ARE) antioxidant system plays a critical role in kidney protection by regulating antioxidants during OS. Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), one of the targets of Nrf2-ARE, plays an important role in regulating OS and is protective in a variety of human and animal models of kidney disease. Thus, activation of Nrf2-HO-1 signaling may offer a potential approach to the design of novel therapeutic agents for kidney diseases.
1. Introduction
The incidence and prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients is increasing worldwide. The prevalence of CKD between male and female patients is not constant between countries, however, kidney functions decline faster in males than females
[1]. Importantly, CKD is not only a risk factor for increasing global mortality but it is also a critical factor involved in cardiovascular disease (CVD)
[2]. The close link between CKD and CVD has been known for a long time
[3][4][5][3,4,5]. Not only traditional risk factors such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes, but also non-traditional risk factors such as disturbed minerals and vitamins in CKD may play important roles in the progression of CVD. The current treatment options for CKD are controlling blood pressure, serum glucose, and serum lipid profile
[6], as well as a modification of lifestyle
[7][8][7,8]. Since the efficacy of the current therapeutic strategy is still limited
[9], there is a need to develop a more effective therapeutic option for treating CKD. Although the exact mechanism involved in the development of CKD is elusive, many lines of evidence strongly suggest that oxidative stress (OS) plays a critical role in the progression of CKD
[10][11][12][13][10,11,12,13].
OS is an imbalance between cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and antioxidant enzymes, leading to a pathological condition. ROS regulates various signaling pathways, including the growth and differentiation of cells, mitogenesis, production, and breakdown of the extracellular matrix (ECM), inflammation, and apoptosis
[14]. OS-mediated damaging effects of cells are controlled by activating the antioxidant defense system. OS has also been noticed to be affected by sex hormones in ischemic kidney injury
[15]. Unfortunately, there is an impairment of antioxidative defense and a reduced activity of antioxidant enzymes in CKD
[16]. Hence, promoting the endogenous antioxidants defense system may become an important strategy in inhibiting OS-mediated cellular damage in CKD.
Phytochemicals and other natural products are cytoprotective against OS by scavenging oxygen-free radicals and enhancing the level of antioxidants
[17]. The literature on protective effects of antioxidant natural products against CKD has been reported
[18][19][20][18,19,20]. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is the master regulator of the cellular antioxidant defense system
[17]. Studies review that augmentation of Nrf2 activity prevents the progression of acute kidney injury (AKI) to CKD transition
[21][22][21,22]. Natural bioactive compounds and their sources have been demonstrated to have kidney protective potential by activating Nrf2 in experimental CKD models
[23][24][23,24]. In a recent review on clinical studies, bardoxolone methyl (CDDO-me), a semi-synthetic triterpenoid activating the Nrf2 pathway, has been reported as an effective therapeutic for diabetic kidney disease (DKD), although it has limitations in that it increases the risk of heart failure
[25]. Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), one of the target molecules of Nrf2, attenuates the overall production of ROS through its ability to degrade heme and to produce carbon monoxide (CO), biliverdin/bilirubin, and the release of free iron. Induction of HO-1 mediates many beneficial effects in the cardiovascular system and kidney
[26]. Also, the modulatory role of HO-1 has been reported in various kidney injury models including CKD
[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34]. Several natural HO-1 inducers and their therapeutic applications in various diseases, including CKD, have been reported
[35].
2. Small Molecule Natural Products Activating Nrf2-HO-1 Signaling
A substantial quantity of natural products has been reported to confer renoprotection and improve disease outcomes of the various types of CKD, primarily through activating the Nrf2/HO-1 antioxidant defense systems and attenuating the proinflammatory signaling pathways. Here,
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searchers reviewed the existing literature over the past decade to compile comprehensive information on the kidney protective potential of naturally occurring compounds. Experimental and disease models, the pathobiology involved, the research outcomes, and the molecular markers altered by these compounds are summarized in
Table 1 and
Table 2 and
Figure 13. To facilitate the discussion,
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searchers have categorized the kidney protective effects of these natural compounds into two distinct chemical groups: phenolic and non-phenolics. This categorization also highlights common bioactive compounds, belonging to phenolic group which represents the largest chemical class showing enormous bioactivity with the potential to be future drug candidates.
Figure 13. Protective effects of small-molecule natural products on OS in CKD. Osthole and SAA enhance the activation of the Akt/Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway with suppression of NF-kB and TGFβ1, consequently attenuating OS, inflammation, and fibrosis. OB induces the phosphorylation of GSK3β, which inhibits Fyn-mediated Nrf2 nuclear export, and activates the transcription of Nrf2-driven antioxidant genes. Expression of SIRT1, which inhibits NF-kB activity, and the activation of Nrf2 are enhanced by aucubin, melatonin, and RSV, which also upregulates SIRT3, resulting in amelioration of kidney injury. Dioscin upregulates SIRT3 level, promotes Nrf2, and suppresses Keap1 expression, resulting in inhibition of inflammation, lipid metabolism, OS, and kidney fibrosis. PD increases the CKIP-1 expression level and promotes the interaction of CKIP-1 with Nrf2, consequently activating the Nrf2-ARE antioxidative pathway. Allicin, AST, curcumin, EASM, EGCG, ILQ, and PQQ attenuate OS via the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway with inhibition of Keap1, and they also reduce TGFβ-mediated fibrosis and NF-kB-induced inflammation. In the cases of an anti-fibrotic effect of apigenin, ASD, baicalein, BA, CGA, CTS, ERG, OL, and SFN, AMP, antroq, artemisinin, berbeine, calycosin, SA, SIN, and TRIG, they are mediated not only by upregulation of the Nrf2/HO-1 antioxidant signaling pathway and downregulation of NF-kB-induced inflammation, but also via TGFβ suppression. Treatments with citral, NGR1, OA, SAL, and silibinin have potency for anti-apoptotic effects with regulation of Bcl2/Bax and caspase3. The decrease in the NLRP3 inflammasome was also observed in treatments with baicalein, EGCG, and OL. L-mimosine activates HIF1α, which upregulates renoprotective HIF target genes, such as VEGF, HO-1, and GLUT1, and decreases fibrosis markers. AMP, ampelopsin; Antroq, antroquinonol; ASD, akebia saponin D; AST, astaxanthin; BA, betulinic acid; CGA, chlorogenic acid; CTS, cryptotanshinone; EASM, ethyl acetate extract of Salvia miltiorrhiza; EGCG, Epigallocatechin gallate; ERG, ergone; GSK3β, glycogen synthase kinase 3β; HIFα, hypoxia-inducible factor α; ILQ, isoliquiritin; NGR1, notoginsenoside R1; OA, oleanolic acid; OB, obacunone; OL, oleuropein; PD, polydatin; PQQ, pyrroloquinoline quinone; RSV, resveratrol; SA, sinapic acid; SAA, salvianolic acid A; SAL, salidroside; SFN, sulforaphane; SIN, sinomenine; TRIG, trigonelline.
Table 1.
Kidney protective effects provided by phenolic compounds of phytochemicals targeting the Nrf2-HO-1 signaling pathway.
No. |
Modulator |
Chemical Class and Natural Sources |
Experimental Model |
Disease Model |
Pathobiology Involved |
Major Research Outcomes |
Molecular Markers |
Ref. |