Prominent and Sustained Up-regulation of Gp130-signaling Cytokines and the Chemokine MIP-2 in Murine Renal Ischemia-reperfusion Injury

Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is a major cause of renal dysfunction in both native kidneys and renal allografts. To broaden our understanding of the inflammatory mediators involved in IRI, we used multi-probe RNase protection assays to examine the expression of 26 different cytokine genes in a murine model of renal IRI. We observed that, in addition to up-regulation of IL-1beta and to a lesser extent TNF-alpha, IRI was associated with an intense and sustained up-regulation of three gp130-signaling cytokines, IL-6, IL-11, and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), as well as with up-regulation of the neutrophil chemotactic and activating mediator macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-2. Macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 were also moderately up-regulated after IRI, whereas mRNA levels of several other inflammatory mediators including IL-1alpha, IL-2, IL-4, interferon (IFN)-gamma, GM-CSF, and RANTES were minimally increased or remained undetectable. These findings identify MIP-2 as an attractive target for inhibition of leukocyte recruitment in renal IRI and also suggest a potentially novel role for gp130-mediated signals in IRI.