The basement membrane (BM) is a specialized layer of extracellular matrix components that plays a central role in maintaining lung and kidney functions. Although the composition of the BM is usually tissue specific, the lung and the kidney preferentially use similar BM components. Unsurprisingly, diseases with BM defects often have severe pulmonary or renal manifestations, sometimes both. Excessive remodeling of the BM, which is a hallmark of both inflammatory and fibrosing diseases in the lung and the kidney, can lead to the release of BM-derived matrikines, proteolytic fragments with distinct biological functions. These matrikines can then influence disease activity at the site of liberation. However, they are also released to the circulation, where they can directly affect the vascular endothelium or target other organs, leading to extrapulmonary or extrarenal manifestations.

In this review, we will summarize the current knowledge of the composition and function of the BM and its matrikines in health and disease, both in the lung and in the kidney. By comparison, we will highlight, why the BM and its matrikines may be central in establishing a renal-pulmonary interaction axis.

基底膜 (BM) 是一种特殊的细胞外基质成分层，在维持肺和肾功能方面发挥着核心作用。尽管 BM 的成分通常是组织特异性的，但肺和肾脏优先使用相似的 BM 成分。毫不奇怪，BM 缺陷的疾病通常具有严重的肺部或肾脏表现，有时两者兼有。BM 的过度重塑是肺部和肾脏炎症和纤维化疾病的标志，可导致 BM 衍生的 matrikines 释放，这是具有不同生物学功能的蛋白水解片段。这些 matrikines 然后可以影响解放部位的疾病活动。然而，它们也被释放到循环中，在那里它们可以直接影响血管内皮或靶向其他器官，

在这篇综述中，我们将总结目前关于肺和肾脏中 BM 及其 matrikines 在健康和疾病中的组成和功能的知识。通过比较，我们将强调为什么 BM 和它的 matrikines 可能是建立肾-肺相互作用轴的中心。