Acidosis activates the Nrf2-pathway in renal proximal tubule-derived cells through a crosstalk with renal fibroblasts

Crosstalk of renal epithelial cells with interstitial fibroblasts plays an important role in kidney pathophysiology. A former study showed that crosstalk between renal epithelial cells and renal fibroblasts protects against acidosis-induced damage. In order to gain further mechanistic insight into this crosstalk we investigated the effect of acidosis on the transcriptome of renal epithelial cells (NRK-52E) and renal fibroblasts (NRK-49F) in co-culture  by RNASeq, bioinformatics analysis and experimental validation. NRK-52E (proximal tubule-derived epithelial cells) and NRK-49F (kidney fibroblasts) were subjected to acidic conditions, while being co-cultivated.