In 21 articles, kidney and other medical specialists from the US, Europe, and Asia consider the biology and role of the podocyte in the pathophysiology of inherited and acquired glomerular disease, discussing the biological features, cell cycle, and injury mechanisms of the podocyte; the podocyte cytoskeleton, crosstalk between podocytes and tubular epithelial cells, the role of mitochondria in podocyte injury, autophagy, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor signaling; podocyte injury in glomerular disease and secondary glomerular disease related to diabetes, obesity, and HIV; novel techniques used in their study, including fly and zebrafish models, the role of microRNAs, and an integrative biology approach to study their function; and potential therapeutic approaches, including retinoic acid, immunomodulatory drugs, and triptolide. Annotation ©2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
