Advances in the study of ELABELA in renal physiological functions and related diseases

YuRong Liu; MingChun Jiang; Yue Li; Peng Chen; XiaoYu Chen

doi:10.3389/fphar.2023.1276488

Advances in the study of ELABELA in renal physiological functions and related diseases

Front Pharmacol. 2023 Oct 31:14:1276488. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1276488. eCollection 2023.

Authors

YuRong Liu¹, MingChun Jiang¹, Yue Li², Peng Chen¹, XiaoYu Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, Shandong First Medical University (Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences), Taian, Shandong, China.
² Department of Anatomy, Shandong First Medical University (Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences), Taian, Shandong, China.

Abstract

ELABELA (ELA), also known as Toddler or Apela, is a novel endogenous ligand of the angiotensin receptor AT1-related receptor protein (APJ). ELA is highly expressed in human embryonic, cardiac, and renal tissues and involves various biological functions, such as embryonic development, blood circulation regulation, and maintaining body fluid homeostasis. ELA is also closely related to the occurrence and development of acute kidney injury, hypertensive kidney damage, diabetic nephropathy, renal tumors, and other diseases. Understanding the physiological role of ELA and its mechanism of action in kidney-related diseases would provide new targets and directions for the clinical treatment of kidney diseases.

Keywords: APJ; ELABELA; acute kidney injury; apelin; diabetic nephropathy; hypertensive kidney damage; renal cancer.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 31600949), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (grant no. ZR2020MH151, ZR2021MH202), and Academic Promotion Programme of Shandong First Medical University (grant no. 2019QL013).