Kidney Int. March 2018, p626–642 CD44 is required for the pathogenesis of experimental crescentic glomerulonephritis and collapsing focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. J. Eymael et al. A key feature of glomerular diseases such as crescentic glomerulonephritis and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis is the activation, migration and proliferation of parietal epithelial cells. CD44-positive activated parietal epithelial cells have been identified in proliferative cellular lesions in glomerular disease. However, it remains unknown whether CD44-positive parietal epithelial cells contribute to the pathogenesis of scarring glomerular diseases. Here, we evaluated this in experimental crescentic glomerulonephritis and the transgenic anti-Thy1.1 model for collapsing focal segmental glomerulosclerosis in CD44-deficient (cd44-/-) …
