Figure 7.

Expression of secreted frizzled-related proteins (sFRPs) and Wnt signaling in an animal model of adenine-induced chronic kidney disease (CKD) were measured by Western blotting, and serum concentrations of sFRP5 were measured in human subjects. For each model, six rats were included; three representative results from each group are presented. The expression of sFRP4 was increased (A) and that of sFRP5 was decreased (B) in the CKD with vascular calcification (VC) group compared with the control group. The expression levels of ROCK-2 (C) and phosphorylation of JNK (D) were significantly increased in the CKD group compared with the control group. The expression of β-catenin (E) and Wnt3a (F) was significantly increased and that of Wnt5a (G) was decreased in the CKD with VC group compared with the control group. (H) The serum concentration of sFPR5 was significantly lower in patients on hemodialysis (HD) than in subjects with normal renal function. Among patients on HD, subjects with VC had significantly lower levels of serum sFRP5 than did subjects without VC. Three representative samples per group are shown (A–G). Data are expressed as means ± standard errors of the means from six samples per group. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01.