Renal fibrosis induces irreversible renal failure and lacks therapies. The tubular epithelial cells (TEC) largely depend on exosomes to create a pro-fibrotic microenvironment, initiating fibroblast activation. However, how exosome secretion of TEC is over-activated during renal fibrogenesis remains unknown. Herein, in vitro high-throughout screen uncovered acetyltransferase NAT10 as promising target to interfere with TEC-fibroblast communication. Further experiments showed that NAT10 was upregulated mainly in the TEC of fibrotic kidneys, and its conditional depletion in TEC alleviated renal fibrosis in vivo. Mechanistically, nuclear NAT10 coordinated with cytoplasmic NAT10 to promote exosome secretion of TEC to induce fibroblast activation via combining mRNA ac4C modification and lysine acetylation (Kac). Moreover, NAT10 upregulated the abundance of exosomal Gli in TEC, which were vital for fibroblast activation. In summary, NAT10-mediated orchestration of ac4C and Kac modifications is the mechanism of over-activated exosome secretion of TEC during renal fibrogenesis. And targeting NAT10 with Remodelin is a promising therapy for renal.

Renal fibrosis  /  Fibroblast activation  /  Exosomes  /  Acetylation  /  NAT10  /  ac4C  /  Remodelin  /  Cell-cell communication