Nitin Kumar

• PhD
• Research Investigator at University of Michigan

Genetic studies of blood pressure (BP) traits to date have been performed on conventional measures by brachial cuff sphygmomanometer for systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP, integrating several physiologic occurrences. Genetic associations with central SBP (cSBP) have not been well-studied. Genetic discovery studies of BP have been most often perfor...

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibition is linked to the development of hypertension and proteinuria in preeclampsia. This occurs as anti-angiogenic factors from the placenta contribute to pregnancy-related hypertension disorder. Soluble VEGF receptor fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFLT-1) is an anti-angiogenic factor that counteracts VEG...

Men are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), and face higher odds of severe illness and death compared to women. The vascular effects of androgen signaling and inflammatory cytokines in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)-mediated endothelial injury are not defined. We determined the effec...

While exogenous administration of recombinant erythropoietin has been associated with increased risk of hypertension, coronary artery disease, and mortality, it is not known if endogenous circulating erythropoietin level is associated with coronary artery disease and its risk factors. We measured and analyzed epidemiological and genetic association...

Objectives: Men are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) and experience higher mortality as compared to women. Endothelial dysfunction has been proposed as a major inciting factor of pro-inflammatory and thrombotic changes in COVID-19 infection. The vascular effects of androgen signaling and inflammatory cytokines...

Introduction: Erythropoietin (EPO)-induced hypertension is a common adverse event among patients receiving EPO therapy and is associated with risk of myocardial infarction and stroke, yet the underlying molecular mechanisms responsible for EPO related cardiovascular disease mortality are not clear. Regulator of G-protein signaling-5 ( Rgs5 ) is hig...

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: High blood-pressure (BP) is a common adverse effect of erythropoietin (EPO) therapy among patients with chronic kidney disease on hemodialysis, and even among otherwise healthy individuals who receive EPO. In human genetics, EPO is associated with not only red blood cell traits, but hypertension (HTN) as well. Currently, there is...

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translate...

Objective There is a lack of standardisation in the terminology used to describe gout. The aim of this project was to develop a consensus statement describing the recommended nomenclature for disease states of gout. Methods A content analysis of gout-related articles from rheumatology and general internal medicine journals published over a 5-year...

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151271/2/jch13630_am.pdf

Objective The language currently used to describe gout lacks standardization. The aim of this project was to develop a consensus statement on the labels and definitions used to describe the basic disease elements of gout. Methods Experts in gout (n = 130) were invited to participate in a Delphi exercise and face‐to‐face consensus meeting to reach...

The anti-fibrotic peptide Ac-SDKP is released from Thymosin β4 (Tβ4) by meprin-α and prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) enzymes and is hydrolyzed by angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). Ac-SDKP is present in urine however it is not clear if de novo tubular release exists or the glomerular filtration is the main source. We hypothesized that Ac-SDKP is rele...

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) represent ~31% of all global deaths, and hypertension alone accounts for ~50% of these cases. Inflammation and subsequent fibrosis in heart, kidney and brain are associated with increased morbidity and mortality in CVD patients. N-Acetyl-Seryl-Aspartyl-Proline (Ac-SDKP) is a naturally occurring immunomodulatory and pr...

Background: Obesity is a public health problem, associated with salt sensitive hypertension, kidney inflammation, and fibrosis. N-acetyl-seryl-aspartyl-lysyl-proline (Ac-SDKP) is a tetra peptide with anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic properties. However, its effect on preventing kidney damage in obesity is unknown. We hypothesized that Zucker ob...

Thymosin β4 (Tβ4), a ubiquitous peptide, regulates several cellular processes that include cell morphology, wound healing, and inflammatory response. Administration of exogenous Tβ4 is protective in diabetic nephropathy and in a unilateral ureteral obstruction model. However, the role of endogenous Tβ4 in health and disease conditions remains uncle...

N-acetyl-seryl-aspartyl-lysyl-proline (Ac-SDKP) is a natural peptide released from its precursor Thymosin β4 (Tβ4) by meprin-α and the prolyl oligopeptidase enzymes (POP) in sequential steps. Ac-SDKP is hydrolyzed by the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE). Ac-SDKP has anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects in heart, aorta and kidney and part...

Angiotensin-II (Ang-II)-induced hypertension is associated with tissue damage and fibrosis in the kidney and heart. Thymosin β4 (Tβ4) regulates cell morphology, inflammation and fibrosis in several organs and administration of exogenous Tβ4 is protective in diabetic nephropathy and unilateral ureteral obstruction model. However, role of endogenous...

Introduction: Obesity increases the risk of salt sensitive hypertension and kidney damage. AcSDKP is a natural tetrapeptide with anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic properties but its effect on obesity-related salt sensitive hypertension and renal damage is unknown. Hypothesis: AcSDKP prevents high-sodium diet (HSD) induced hypertension and kidney d...

Unilaterally nephrectomized rats (UNx) have higher glomerular capillary pressure (PGC) that can cause significant glomerular injury in the remnant kidney. PGC is controlled by the ratio of afferent (Af-Art) and efferent arteriole resistance. Af-Art resistance in turn is regulated by two intrinsic feedback mechanisms: 1) Tubuloglomerular feedback (T...

Ac-SDKP is a natural peptide with anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory properties in vascular, myocardial and kidney tissues. It is released from thymosin B4 (TB4) by two step enzymatic reactions by meprin and the prolyl oligopeptidase enzymes (POP) and degraded by angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE). Treatment with ACE inhibitors (ACEi) increases A...

N-acetyl-seryl-aspartyl-lysyl-proline (Ac-SDKP) is a natural tetrapeptide with anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic properties that is released from its precursor thymosin β4 (Tβ4). At present, Tβ4 is the only identified Ac-SDKP precursor with no other candidates reported. Our search of National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database by...

We recently showed that N-acetyl-seryl-aspartyl-lysyl-proline (Ac-SDKP), a natural tetrapeptide with antifibrotic properties prevented high salt-induced albuminuria and renal damage including fibrosis in Dahl Salt-Sensitive (SS) rats and their consomic SS13BN controls. However, the mechanism of this antifibrotic effect is unknown. MicroRNAs (miRNAs...

It is well-established that plant hemoglobins (Hbs) are involved in nitric oxide (NO) metabolism via NO dioxygenase and/or nitrite reductase activity. The ferrous-deoxy Arabidopsis Hb1 and Hb2 (AHb1 and AHb2) have been shown to reduce nitrite to NO under hypoxia. Here, to test the hypothesis that a six- to five-coordinate heme iron transition might...

N‐acetyl‐seryl‐aspartyl‐lysyl‐proline (Ac‐SDKP) is a natural tetrapeptide with anti‐inflammatory and anti‐fibrotic properties. We have previously shown that prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) is involved in the Ac‐SDKP release from thymosin β4 (Tβ4). However, POP can only hydrolyze peptides shorter than 30 amino acids and Tβ4 is 43 amino acids long. This...

N-acetyl-seryl-aspartyl-lysyl-proline (Ac-SDKP) is a natural tetra-peptide with anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic properties. We have previously shown that prolyl-oligopeptidase (POP) is involved in the Ac-SDKP release from thymosin β4 (Tβ4). However, POP can only hydrolyze peptides shorter than 30 amino acids and Tβ4 is 43 amino acids long. This...

Ac-SDKP is a natural tetrapeptide with anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory properties in vascular, myocardial and kidney tissues. It is degraded by angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) and treatment with ACE inhibitors increases its plasma levels. However the main sites of Ac-SDKP production and catabolism are unknown. Thus, the aim of this study wa...

Type 1 non-symbiotic rice hemoglobin (rHb1) shows bis-histidyl heme hexacoordination and is capable of binding diatomic ligands reversibly. The biological function is as yet unclear, but the high oxygen affinity makes it unlikely to be involved in oxygen transport. In order to gain insight into possible physiological roles, we have studied CO rebin...