Fetuin-A leads to pathological changes of the kidney

The protective effect of human renal sinus fat on glomerular cells is reversed by the hepatokine fetuin-A. Scientific Reports 7, 2017

Fatty tissue around a blood vessel in the kidney. © IDM

Adipose tissue is not harmful per se. It can even have protective effects. For example, adipose tissue located around blood vessels or the kidney has regenerative properties. "The factor that leads to pathological changes is fetuin-A, which is produced by the fatty liver," said Professor Dorothea Siegel-Axel, DZD scientist at the Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases (IDM) of the Helmholtz Zentrum München at the Eberhard-Karls-University of Tuebingen.
As a result, instead of protecting tissue as before, the adipose tissue now elicits inflammatory processes. This leads to a restriction of renal function. This is demonstrated by studies on arteries and the kidney, which have recently been published by the working group in the journal Scientific Reports (Nature Group).
Background: DZD scientists in Tuebingen discovered several years ago that especially a fatty liver can cause damage to other organs. The cause for this is the altered secretion behavior of the fatty liver. It increasingly produces glucose, unfavorable fats and proteins, such as the hepatokine fetuin-A, all of which it releases into the bloodstream. Thus, the secreted substances of the fatty liver enter other organs and trigger reactions there (organ crosstalk).

Original publication:
Wagner R. et al (2017): The protective effect of human renal sinus fat on glomerular cells is reversed by the hepatokine fetuin-A. Scientific Reports, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-02210-4