RNA expression data from glomeruli lacking von Hippel-Lindau protein in podocytes

We and others have previously shown that glomerular endothelial cells and podocytes express hypoxia-inducible transcription factors (HIFs). HIFs bind to hypoxia response elements in target genes, such as vascular endothelial growth factor, which is continually produced by podocytes throughout life. To further assess function of HIFs in podocyte biology, podocin-Cre mice were mated with floxed von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) mice to selectively delete VHL, a component of an E3 ligase complex responsible for degradation of HIFs in normoxia. We reasoned that cells lacking VHL would overexpress stable HIFs and upregulate hypoxia-responsive genes. Progeny from these crosses displayed two phenotypes, non-proteinuric with glomerular basement membrane (GBM) defects and proteinuric with GBM defects and end-stage renal failure at ~6 months of age. Gene changes associated with the mild, non-proteinuric phenotype were studied using isolated glomeruli from wildtype and Pod-Cre fVHL mice. At 4 weeks of age, urine was collected and urinary albumin was quantified by Albuwell elisa from Pod-Cre fVHL litters. At 6 weeks of age, glomeruli from 3 wildtype littermate controls and 3 non-proteinuric Pod-Cre fVHL mice were collected using the magnetic bead method. RNA was extracted and hybridized to Affymetrix microarrays.