Regulatory mechanism of ulinastatin on autophagy of macrophages and renal tubular epithelial cells

Abstract Kidney ischemia and hypoxia can cause renal cell apoptosis and activation of inflammatory cells, which lead to the release of inflammatory factors and ultimately result in the damage of kidney tissue and the whole body. Renal tubular cell and macrophage autophagy can reduce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), thereby reducing the activation of inflammatory cytoplasm and its key effector protein, caspase-1, which reduces the expression of IL-1β and IL-18 and other inflammatory factors. Ulinastatin (UTI), as a glycoprotein drug, inhibits the activity of multiple proteases and reduces myocardial damage caused by ischemia-reperfusion by upregulating autophagy. However, it can be raised by macrophage autophagy, reduce the production of ROS, and ultimately reduce the expression of inflammatory mediators, thereby reducing renal cell injury, promote renal function recovery is not clear. In this study, a series of cell experiments have shown that ulinastatin is reduced by regulating the autophagy of renal tubular epithelial cells and macrophages to reduce the production of reactive oxygen species and inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-1), and then, increase the activity of the cells under the sugar oxygen deprivation model. The simultaneous use of cellular autophagy agonists Rapamycin (RAPA) and ulinastatin has a synergistic effect on the production of reactive oxygen species and the expression of inflammatory factors.