# Glomerular cell atlas of multi-disease model revealed the characteristic changes of glomerular cell subtypes in diseases

## TL;DR

This study maps changes in glomerular cells across different kidney diseases, revealing shared and disease-specific patterns that could guide targeted therapies.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a multi-disease cellular landscape of glomerular cells, identifying disease-specific and shared molecular signatures in cell subtypes.

## Key findings

- Podocytes show injury-associated subsets with distinct gene expression patterns in different disease models.
- Mesangial cells exhibit common injury-related gene expression across diseases but also have disease-specific subsets.
- Glomerular endothelial cells display similar molecular changes across diseases without forming disease-specific subtypes.

## Abstract

Although a range of glomerular diseases profoundly affect glomerulus-associated cells, a comprehensive understanding of their molecular alterations is still lacking. Here, we performed in-depth analysis of glomerular data from mouse models of primary and secondary glomerulopathies and constructed a multi-disease cellular landscape of glomerular cells. We identified a putative subset of proliferative glomerular endothelial cells(gECs) that highly expresses genetic susceptibility genes associated with multiple glomerular diseases. Podocytes exhibited shared injury-associated cell types across different disease models. A podocyte subset highly expressing Endou, Cd200, Lgmn, Il18, Dmpk, and Spon2 was predominantly derived from ob/ob mice, whereas another podocyte subset with high expression of Selenbp1, Lpar1, S100a8, S100a9, and Sult1a1 was mainly observed in adriamycin-induced mice. Mesangial cells shared common injury-related alterations across diseases (high expression of Cxcl1, egr1, hspa1b, socs3 and dnajb1), while ob/ob mice exhibited a distinct mesangial cell subset (high expression of aldh1a2, thbs1 and fbln5). In contrast, the gECs displayed similar molecular changes across different diseases without giving rise to disease-specific subtypes. Intercellular ligand-receptor analysis underpins the recruitment of immune cells by injured mesangial cells and podocytes via specific engagement of pairs such as CXCL and MIF, respectively. Our study systematically elucidates the molecular alterations of glomerulus-associated cells across various diseases, providing a foundation and strategic insights for future targeted therapies tailored to specific glomerular disease contexts.