Description
Motivation and design: Renal tubulointerstitial injury is an important determinant of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression, yet treatment is limited to renin angiotensin system blockade. Accordingly, we performed global expression profiling in a 2 × 2 factorial design (N = 8 in each group) on RNA extracted from male Col4a3–/– mice and littermate controls on a 129X1/SvJ background at 4 and 7 weeks of age. Col4a3–/– mice have a mutation in the gene encoding the α3 chain of type IV collagen, associated with proteinuria and progressive loss of kidney function. We analyzed expression with Affymetrix GeneChip Mouse Gene 2.0 ST Arrays and derived a novel CKD progression signature based on aging and disease in Col4a3–/– mice. Using our progression signature, we sought to repurpose existing drugs for the treatment of progressive CKD.