Caffeine inhibits hypoxia-induced renal fibroblast activation by antioxidant mechanism

Caffeine has been demonstrated to possess anti-fibrotic activity against liver fibrosis. However, its role in renal fibrosis remained unclear. This study investigated the effects of caffeine on renal fibroblast activation induced by hypoxia (one of the inducers for renal fibrosis). BHK-21 fibroblasts were cultured under normoxia or hypoxia with or without caffeine treatment. Hypoxia increased levels of fibronectin, α-smooth muscle actin, actin stress fibers, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), and oxidized proteins. However, caffeine successfully preserved all these activated fibroblast markers to their basal levels. Cellular catalase activity was dropped under hypoxic condition but could be reactivated by caffeine. Hif1a gene and stress-responsive Nrf2 signaling molecule were elevated/activated by hypoxia, but only Nrf2 could be partially recovered by caffeine. These data suggest that caffeine exhibits anti-fibrotic effect against hypoxia-induced renal fibroblast activation through its antioxidant property to eliminate intracellular ROS, at least in part, via downstream catalase and Nrf2 mechanisms.