Maternal exposure to di-n-butyl phthalate promotes Snail1-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition of renal tubular epithelial cells via upregulation of TGF-β1 during renal fibrosis in rat offspring.
In the kidney tissue, the mRNA and protein expressions of vanin-1 significantly decreased, whereas there was increased expression of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 and Snail-1, which plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of renal fibrosis via epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT).
In addition to tumor progression, renal fibrosis is also linked to the activity of Snail genes and indeed, reactivation of Snail in the adult kidney is sufficient to induce fibrosis.