The association of urinary epidermal growth factors with ADPKD disease severity and progression

Background The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway is involved in kidney tissue repair and growth. Preclinical interventional data and scarce human data have suggested a role for this pathway in the pathophysiology of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD), while other data have suggested that its activation is causally linked to repair of damaged kidney tissue. We hypothesize that urinary EGFR ligands, as a reflection of EGFR activity, are associated with kidney function decline in ADPKD in the context of tissue repair following injury, and as the disease progresses as a sign of insufficient repair.

Methods In the present study, we measured the EGFR ligands, EGF and heparin binding-EGF (HB-EGF), in 24-h urine samples of 301 ADPKD patients and 72 age- and sex matched living kidney donors to dissect the role of the EGFR pathway in ADPKD. During a median follow-up of 2.5 years, the association of urinary EGFR ligand excretion with annual change in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and height adjusted total kidney volume (htTKV) in ADPKD patients was analyzed using mixed-models methods and the expression of three closely related EGFR family receptors in ADPKD kidney tissue was investigated by immunohistochemistry. Additionally, the effect of reducing renal mass (after kidney donation), was assessed to investigate whether urinary EGF matches this reduction and thus reflects the amount of remaining healthy kidney tissue.

Results At baseline, urinary HB-EGF did not differ between ADPKD patients and healthy controls (p = 0.6), whereas a lower urinary EGF excretion was observed in ADPKD patients (18.6 [11.8–27.8] compared to healthy controls (51.0 [34.9–65.4] µg/24 h, p < 0.001). Urinary EGF was positively associated with baseline eGFR (R = 0.54, p < 0.001) and a lower EGF was strongly associated with a more rapid GFR decline, even when adjusted for ADPKD severity markers (β = 1.96, p < 0.001), whereas HB-EGF was not. Expression of the EGFR, but not other EGFR-related receptors, was observed in renal cysts but was absent in non-ADPKD kidney tissue. Finally, unilateral nephrectomy resulted in a decrease of 46.4 [-63.3 to -17.6]% in urinary EGF excretion, alongside a decrease of 35.2 ± 7.2% in eGFR and 36.8 ± 6.9% in mGFR, whereas maximal mGFR (measured after dopamine induced hyperperfusion) decreased by 46.1 ± 7.8% (all p < 0.001).

Conclusions Our data suggest that lower urinary EGF excretion may be a valuable novel predictor for kidney function decline in patients with ADPKD.