Internal medicine

Beta-catenin

Biology

Endocrinology

Cardiology

Wnt signaling pathway

Kidney

Acute kidney injury

Signal transduction

Cardiorenal syndrome

Cell biology

Cancer research

Medicine

Kidney International

In type 2 cardiorenal syndrome, chronic heart failure is thought to cause or promote chronic kidney disease; however, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. We investigated the role of Wnt signaling in heart and kidney injury in a mouse model of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure induced by transverse aortic constriction (TAC). At 8 weeks after TAC, cardiac hypertrophy, inflammation, and fibrosis were prominent, and echocardiography confirmed impaired cardiac function. The cardiac lesions were accompanied by upregulation of multiple Wnt ligands and activation of β-catenin, as well as activation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS).

Wnt/β-catenin signaling mediates both heart and kidney injury in type 2 cardiorenal syndrome