Tianxin Yang

About

Tianxin Yang, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Medicine with Tenure and the Dialysis Research Foundation Endowed Chair in the Division of Nephrology & Hypertension at the University of Utah. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Nutrition & Integrative Physiology and is a Senior Research Career Scientist at the VA Salt Lake Health Care System. Dr. Yang received his MD degree from Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences in China and his PhD in Renal Physiology from Tokyo Medical & Dental University in Japan. He completed Postdoctoral Fellow training at the University of Michigan and continued his renal physiology research as a Senior Staff Fellow and Staff Scientist at the National Institute of Health. Since joining the University of Utah faculty in 2002, Dr. Yang's laboratory has focused on understanding the fundamental mechanisms of renal control of electrolyte and fluid metabolism, with the goal of translating bench discoveries into novel therapeutics for hypertension and kidney disease.

Research topics

• Endocrinology
• Molecular biology
• Biochemistry
• Immunology
• Internal medicine
• Medicine
• Biology
• Chemistry

Selected publications

• Serine Protease HTRA1 as a Novel Target Antigen in Primary Membranous Nephropathy

  Journal of the American Society of Nephrology · 2021 · 108 citations

  BACKGROUND: Identification of target antigens PLA2R, THSD7A, NELL1, or Semaphorin-3B can explain the majority of cases of primary membranous nephropathy (MN). However, target antigens remain unidentified in 15%-20% of patients. METHODS: A multipronged approach, using traditional and modern technologies, converged on a novel target antigen, and capitalized on the temporal variation in autoantibody titer for biomarker discovery. Immunoblotting of human glomerular proteins followed by differential…

  DOI

• ELABELA antagonizes intrarenal renin-angiotensin system to lower blood pressure and protects against renal injury

  AJP Renal Physiology · 2020 · 63 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  excretion) were markedly blocked by exogenous ELA infusion. Together, these results support the antagonistic interaction between ELA and intrarenal RAS in the distal nephron that appears to exert a major impact on blood pressure regulation.

  DOI

• Mutagenesis of the cleavage site of (pro)renin receptor abrogates aldosterone-salt-induced hypertension and renal injury in mice

  American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology · 2022-10-27 · 13 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  We used a novel mouse model with mutagenesis of the cleavage site of PRR to support soluble PRR as an essential mediator of aldosterone-salt-induced hypertension and also as a potential therapeutic target for patients with mineralocorticoid excess. We firstly report that soluble PRR-dependent pathway medicates the Na + -retaining action of aldosterone in the distal nephron, which opens up a new area for a better understanding of the molecular basis of renal handling of Na + balance and blood pre…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Soluble (Pro)Renin Receptor in Hypertension

  ˜The œNephron journals/Nephron journals · 2022-07-22 · 12 citations

  reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The (pro)renin receptor (PRR) was originally cloned as a specific single-transmembrane receptor for prorenin and renin and has now emerged as a multifunctional protein implicated in a wide variety of developmental and physiopathological processes. Activation of PRR in the kidney causes Na+ and water retention, contributing to elevation of blood pressure in response to various hypertensive stimuli. Part of the renal action of PRR depends on activation of intrarenal renin-angiotensin system. In re…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Potential of soluble (pro)renin receptor in kidney disease: can it go beyond a biomarker?

  American Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology · 2022-09-08 · 10 citations

  reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  -transporting accessory protein 2 (ATP6AP2), is a type I transmembrane receptor and is capable of binding and activating prorenin and renin. Apart from its association with the renin-angiotensin system, PRR has been implicated in diverse developmental, physiological, and pathophysiological processes. Within the kidney, PRR is predominantly expressed in the distal nephron, particularly the intercalated cells, and activation of renal PRR contributes to renal injury in various rodent models of chro…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Role of (pro)renin receptor in aldosterone signaling in the kidney

  NIH · $2.3M · 2018–2024

• Cloning and characterization of PRR24 as a specific renin receptor critically involved in vasopressin signaling in the kidney

  NIH · $3.7M · 2015–2027

• NIH Grant I01BX001034

  NIH · 2015

Frequent coauthors

• Fei Wang

  Sun Yat-sen University

  177 shared

• Xiaohan Lu

  Duke University

  132 shared

• Kexin Peng

  Ningbo University

  125 shared

• Aihua Zhang

  Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University

  105 shared

• Shu-Feng Zhou

  Huaqiao University

  76 shared

• Yaomin Du

  Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital

  74 shared

• Chuanming Xu

  Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

  63 shared

• Josephine P. Briggs

  54 shared

Education

• M.D.

  Zhongshan University

• Ph.D., Renal Physiology

  Tokyo Medical & Dental University

Similar researchers at University of Utah

• Alfred K. Cheungh-106
• Miklos Z. Molnarh-92
• Srinivasan Beddhuh-88