In-depth transcriptomic analyses investigating molecular mechanisms underlying the osteogenic differentiation of human renal interstitial fibroblasts.

Randall’s plaques (RP) are well established as precursor lesions of idiopathic calcium oxalate (CaOx) stones, and the process of biomineralization driven by osteogenic-like cells has been highlighted in RP formation, but the mechanism is poorly understood. Given the potential role of osteogenic-like renal interstitial fibroblasts in biomineralization, the isolated primary human renal interstitial fibroblasts (hRIFs) were either induced with a widely used osteogenic medium or cultured in normal medium for 7 days, and a transcriptomic analysis of LncRNA and mRNA was performed to study molecular mechanisms underlying the osteogenic differentiation of human renal interstitial fibroblasts. After obtaining approval from the Xiangya Hospital Ethics Committee and written informed consent from patients, human renal interstitial fibroblasts (hRIFs) were isolated from normal renal tissues without tumor invasion obtained from patients undergoing nephrectomy due to renal tumor. For renal fibroblast identification, immunofluorescence staining was used to detect the expression of vimentin and E-cadherin. Passages 4 of hRIFs were either induced with a widely used osteogenic medium (n=3) or cultured in normal medium (3) for 7 days. Total RNA was extracted using TRIzol reagent (Takara, Japan), and transcriptomic analysis of LncRNA and mRNA was performed to study molecular mechanisms underlying the osteogenic differentiation of human renal interstitial fibroblasts.