Podocyte-derived soluble RARRES1 drives kidney disease progression through direct podocyte and proximal tubular injury

Retinoic acid receptor responder protein-1 (RARRES1) is a podocyte-enriched transmembrane protein whose increased expression correlates with human glomerular disease progression. RARRES1 promotes podocytopenia and glomerulosclerosis via p53-mediated podocyte apoptosis. Importantly, the cytopathic actions of RARRES1 are entirely dependent on its proteolytic cleavage into a soluble protein (sRARRES1) and subsequent podocyte uptake by endocytosis, as a cleavage mutant RARRES1 exerted no effects in vitro or in vivo. As RARRES1 expression is upregulated in human glomerular diseases, here we investigated the functional consequence of podocyte-specific overexpression of RARRES1 in mice in the experimental focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and diabetic kidney disease. We also examined the effects of long-term RARRES1 overexpression on slowly developing aging-induced kidney injury. As anticipated, the induction of podocyte overexpression of RARRES1 (Pod-RARRES1WT) significantly worsened glomerular injuries and worsened kidney function in all three models, while overexpression of RARRES1 cleavage mutant (Pod-RARRES1MT) did not. Remarkably, direct uptake of sRARRES1 was also seen in proximal tubules of injured Pod-RARRES1WT mice and associated with exacerbated tubular injuries, vacuolation, and lipid accumulation. Single cell RNA sequence analysis of mouse kidneys demonstrated RARRES1 led to a marked deregulation of lipid metabolism in proximal tubule subsets. We further identified matrix metalloproteinase 23 (MMP23) as a highly podocyte-specific metalloproteinase and responsible for RARRES1 cleavage in disease settings, as adeno-associated virus 9-mediated knockdown of MMP23 abrogated sRARRES1 uptake in tubular cells in vivo. Thus, our study delineates a previously unrecognized mechanism by which a podocyte-derived protein directly facilitates podocyte and tubular injury in glomerular diseases and suggests that podocyte-specific functions of RARRES1 and MMP23 may be targeted to ameliorate glomerular disease progression in vivo.