FXR protects cisplatin-induced AKI via transcriptional regulation of ferroptosis.

Farnesoid X receptor (FXR, also known as NR1H4) is crucial to nephroprotective in several kinds of kidney diseases, including obesity, diabetes, aging, acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. FXR plays a key role in maintaining cholesterol and bile acid levels and is highly expressed in the liver, intestine and kidneys. In kidney diseases, it is reported that FXR has anti-lipogenic, anti‐inflammatory, antifibrotic, and antioxidant functions. Here, using genomics analysis, we investigated whether FXR attenuates cisplatin-induced AKI through the regulation of ferroptosis. The increased blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine and ferroptotic responses in cisplatin-induced AKI mice were attenuated by treatment with FXR agonist, GW4064, while those were exacerbated in FXR knockout mice. Using RNA-sequencing analysis, we found novel target genes for FXR associated with ferroptosis. FXR agonist treatment increases lipid and glutathione metabolic gene expression and decreases cell death genes expression. This study identifies transcriptional regulation of ferroptosis by FXR as a potential therapeutic target for cisplatin-induced AKI. Kidney mRNA profiles were generated by deep sequencing, were profiled in the kidney of wild-type (WT) and FXR knockout (FXR KO) mice treatment with GW4064 for 6h after fasting overnight.