TY - JOUR AU - Du Lei AU - Qian Xuan AU - Li Yuan AU - Li Xi-zhi AU - He Lin-lin AU - Xu Liu AU - Liu Yi-qi AU - Li Cheng-cheng AU - Ma Pu AU - Shu Fang-lin AU - Lu Qian AU - Yin Xiao-xing PY - 2021 TI - Sirt1 inhibits renal tubular cell epithelial–mesenchymal transition through YY1 deacetylation in diabetic nephropathy JF - Acta Pharmacologica Sinica; Vol 42, No 2 (February 2021): Acta Pharmacologica Sinica Y2 - 2021 KW - N2 - Silent information regulator 1 (Sirt1) is a deacetylase, which plays an important role in the occurrence and development of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Our previous study shows that Yin yang 1 (YY1), a widely expressed zinc finger DNA/RNA-binding transcription factor, is a novel regulator of renal fibrosis in diabetic nephropathy. Since the activity of YY1 is regulated via acetylation and deacetylation modification, this study aimed to explore whether Sirt1-induced deacetylation of YY1 mediated high glucose (HG)-induced renal tubular epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and renal fibrosis in vivo and in vitro. We first confirmed that Sirt1 expression level was significantly decreased in the kidney of db/db mice and in HG-treated HK-2 cells. Diabetes-induced Sirt1 reduction enhanced the level of YY1 acetylation and renal tubular EMT. Then, we manipulated Sirt1 expression in vivo and in vitro by injecting resveratrol (50 mg·kg −1 ·d −1 . ip) to db/db mice for 2 weeks or application of SRT1720 (2.5 μM) in HG-treated HK-2 cells, we found that activation of Sirt1 reversed the renal tubular EMT and YY1 acetylation induced by HG condition. On the contrary, Sirt1 was knocked down in db/m mice or EX527 (1 μM) was added in HK-2 cells, we found that inhibition of Sirt1 exacerbated renal fibrosis in diabetic mice and enhanced level of YY1 acetylation in HK-2 cells. Furthermore, knockdown of YY1 inhibited the ameliorating effect of resveratrol on renal tubular EMT and renal fibrosis in db/db mice. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that Sirt1 plays an important role in renal tubular EMT of DN through mediating deacetylation of YY1. UR - http://www.chinaphar.com/article/view/10269