Recently, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) announced the 2019 annual major research program funding list of organ aging and organ degenerative mechanism, and the project “Role of foot cell GPCR receptor-mediated histone deacetylases in the pathogenesis of kidney aging” chaired by Professor Yi Fan (Shandong University, School of Basic Medical Sciences) received key project funding. The total amount of funding is 2.05 million yuan (implementation period 2020.1-2023.12).

The increase in global aging has led to a sharp increase in the incidence of aging-related diseases, among which the kidney is one of the most obvious organs in the aging process of the human body. In the development of kidney diseases, aging makes the inherent cells of the kidneys susceptible, which accelerates the process of kidney aging. The foot cell injury/aging - glomerular sclerosis - renal function decline is the axis of kidney aging. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the mechanism of foot cell aging and injury in-depth and to find effective drug targets.

GPCRs are the largest membrane receptor protein family in the human body, playing an important role in cell signal transduction and physiological function regulation, and are also the most successful drug target. Although studies have shown that the GPCR signaling pathway of foot cells may be involved in the regulation of kidney aging, the mechanism is unclear. Based on the pre-research, Professor Yifan’s team plans to take foot cells as the center from the perspective of kidney aging and potential therapeutic target discovery, and identify aging-related foot cell GPCRs, and analyze the key role of GPCRs in the process of the axial process of kidney aging and its significance in the susceptibility of kidney disease. It further clarifies the role of acetylation epigenetic modification in foot cells GPCRs of regulating kidney aging, the mechanism of kidney aging and the evolution of degenerative changes, which is to search for drug targets to delay kidney aging and treat kidney diseases.

Professor Yi Fan, the Assistant president and dean of Department of Science and Technology Management, Shandong University, winner of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, has been working on the pathogenesis of kidney diseases. He publishes more than 80 SCI papers in this field (quoted 3797 times, cited H index is 33), among which are published as an independent correspondent in Circulation Research, Journals of the American Society of Nephrology, Nature Communications, Kidney International, Hypertension, etc. He takes charge of a number of key projects of NSFC, the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province. In addition, as a major participant, Professor Yi Fan has awarded the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award (2016) and the First Prize of the Medical Science and Technology Award of the Chinese Medical Association (2015).