ClC-5, the chloride channel mutated in Dent’s disease, colocalizes with the proton pump in endocytotically active kidney cells

Loss-of-function mutations of the ClC-5 chloride channel lead to Dent’s disease, a syndrome characterized by low molecular weight proteinuria, hypercalciuria, and kidney stones. We show that ClC-5 is expressed in renal proximal tubule cells, which normally endocytose proteins passing the glomerular filter. Expression is highest below the brush border in a region densely packed with endocytotic vesicles, where ClC-5 colocalizes with the H(+)-ATPase and with internalized proteins early after uptake. In intercalated cells of the collecting duct it again localizes to apical intracellular vesicles and colocalizes with the proton pump in α-intercalated cells. In transfected cells, ClC-5 colocalizes with endocytosed α(2)-macroglobulin. Cotransfection with a GTPase-deficient rab5 mutant leads to enlarged early endosomes that stain for ClC-5. We suggest that ClC-5 may be essential for proximal tubular endocytosis by providing an electrical shunt necessary for the efficient acidification of vesicles in the endocytotic pathway, explaining the proteinuria observed in Dent’s disease.