Atorvastatin Regulates MALAT1/miR-200c/NRF2 Activity to Protect Against Podocyte Pyroptosis Induced by High Glucose

BACKGROUND: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is one of the main complications of diabetes mellitus (DM), which leads to the long-term loss of kidney functions. Long noncoding RNAs (LncRNAs) can alleviate DN by interacting with microRNAs (miRNAs). In this work, we aimed to explore the effects of the MALAT1/miR-200c/NRF2 regulatory axis on the pyroptosis and oxidative stress (Oxidative stress, OS) of renal podocytes in high glucose (HG) environment and whether the lipid-lowering drug atorvastatin (AT) can relieve renal OS through this approach. METHODS: MPC-5, a mouse podocyte cell line, was induced by HG as a cell model. The protein expressions of caspase-1, GSDMD, NLRP3, NRF2, etc. were detected by Western blotting and immunofluorescence, and the mRNA level of caspase-1, GSDMD, NLRP3, NRF2, MALAT1, miR-200c was tested by qRT-PCR. The cell pyroptosis of podocytes treated with AT was verified by CCK-8 or flow cytometry. The levels of Malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione (GSH) were measured by spectrophotometer, respectively. RESULTS: The caspase-1 was upregulated in time-dependent manner and got the peak at 48 h and 30 mmol/L respectively in MPC-5 cells treated with HG. Further, the expression of GSDMD, MALAT1 and miR-200c were increased, while the level of NRF2, HO-1, OS-related indicators, were decreased simultaneously. Knockdown the MALAT1 protected MPC-5 cells from pyroptosis and OS induced by HG. However, overexpressing miR-200c in control-group cells increased pyroptosis and upregulated the OS level with HG culture medium. Further, atorvastatin protected MPC-5 cells from cell pyroptosis and downregulated the level of renal OS via attenuating the expression of MALAT1 and miR-200c. CONCLUSION: Atorvastatin protects podocyte cells via MALAT1/miR-200c/NRF2 signal pathway from pyroptosis and OS induced by HG.