Fig. 5. Therapeutic targeting of IL11 protects mice from UUO-induced renal tubule damage, inflammation, and fibrosis.

a Representative immunofluorescence images (scale bars: 100 µm) of EGFP and E-Cadherin expression in UUO and control kidneys of Il11^EGFP/+ mice (representative dataset from n = 3/group) and b Western blots of IL11 protein expression in control and UUO kidneys (representative dataset from n = 5/group). Kidneys were collected at day 10 and contralateral kidneys were used as controls. c Schematic of X203 therapeutic dosing of mice subjected to left unilateral ureteral obstruction for experiments shown in (d–h). IgG/X203 (10 mg/kg) was administered on day 4 and day 8 post UUO and kidneys were collected on day 10; contralateral (right) kidneys from the IgG group were used as controls. d Western blots of pERK, ERK, pp90RSK, p90RSK, pGSK3β, GSK3β, SNAI1, ZEB, E-Cadherin, Cyclin D1, αSMA, FN1, and GAPDH (representative dataset from n = 5/group), e kidney collagen content by hydroxyproline assay (control, UUO + X203 (n = 7/group), UUO + IgG (n = 6)), f representative Masson’s Trichrome images of whole kidney cross section (scale bars: 500 µm, representative dataset from n = 5/group), g quantification of collagen area from Masson’s Trichrome-stained kidney sections (n = 5/group), and h relative renal mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory markers (Tnfα, Il6, Ccl2, Ccl5, Il1β), fibrosis markers (Col1a1, Col1a2, Col3a1, Fn1, Acta2), and kidney injury markers (Ngal, Kim1) (n = 7/group). e, g, h Data are shown as box-and-whisker with median (middle line), 25th–75th percentiles (box), and minimum–maximum values (whiskers); one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s correction except for (h, Ccl2 and Ccl5) which were analyzed by Kruskal–Wallis with Dunn’s correction. FC: Fold change. Source data are provided as a Source data file.