Project description:Although pathological cardiac hypertrophy represents a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying this disease is still poor. Here, we demonstrate that suppressor of IKKɛ (SIKE), a negative regulator of the interferon pathway, attenuates pathological cardiac hypertrophy in rodents and non-human primates in a TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1)/AKT-dependent manner. Sike-deficient mice develop cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure, whereas Sike-overexpressing transgenic (Sike-TG) mice are protected from hypertrophic stimuli. Mechanistically, SIKE directly interacts with TBK1 to inhibit the TBK1-AKT signalling pathway, thereby achieving its anti-hypertrophic action. The suppression of cardiac remodelling by SIKE is further validated in rats and monkeys. Collectively, these findings identify SIKE as a negative regulator of cardiac remodelling in multiple animal species due to its inhibitory regulation of the TBK1/AKT axis, suggesting that SIKE may represent a therapeutic target for the treatment of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure.
Project description:Cardiac hypertrophy is a complex pathological process that involves multiple factors including inflammation and apoptosis. Interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) is a multifunctional regulator that participates in immune regulation, cell differentiation, apoptosis, and oncogenesis. However, the role of IRF7 in cardiac hypertrophy remains unclear. We performed aortic banding in cardiac-specific IRF7 transgenic mice, IRF7 knockout mice, and the wild-type littermates of these mice. Our results demonstrated that IRF7 was downregulated in aortic banding-induced animal hearts and cardiomyocytes that had been treated with angiotensin II or phenylephrine for 48 hours. Accordingly, heart-specific overexpression of IRF7 significantly attenuated pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and dysfunction, whereas loss of IRF7 led to opposite effects. Moreover, IRF7 protected against angiotensin II-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in vitro. Mechanistically, we identified that IRF7-dependent cardioprotection was mediated through IRF7 binding to inhibitor of κB kinase-β, and subsequent nuclear factor-κB inactivation. In fact, blocking nuclear factor-κB signaling with cardiac-specific inhibitors of κBα(S32A/S36A) super-repressor transgene counteracted the adverse effect of IRF7 deficiency. Conversely, activation of nuclear factor-κB signaling via a cardiac-specific conditional inhibitor of κB kinase-β(S177E/S181E) (constitutively active) transgene negated the antihypertrophic effect of IRF7 overexpression. Our data demonstrate that IRF7 acts as a novel negative regulator of pathological cardiac hypertrophy by inhibiting nuclear factor-κB signaling and may constitute a potential therapeutic target for pathological cardiac hypertrophy.
Project description:The role of Ca(2+) signaling in triggering hypertrophy was investigated in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes in vitro. We show that an increase in cell size and sarcomere reorganization were elicited by receptor agonists such as Angiotensin II, aldosterone, and norepinephrine and by a small rise in medium KCl concentration, a treatment devoid of direct effects on receptor functions. All these treatments increased the frequency of spontaneous [Ca(2+)] transients, caused nuclear translocation of transfected NFAT(GFP), and increased the expression of a NFAT-sensitive reporter gene. There was no increase in Ca(2+) spark frequency in the whole cell or in the perinuclear region under these conditions. Hypertrophy and NFAT translocation but not the increased frequency of [Ca(2+)] transients were inhibited by the calcineurin inhibitor cyclosporine A. Hypertrophy by the different stimuli was insensitive to inhibition of myofilament contraction. We concluded that calcineurin-NFAT can act as integrators of the contractile Ca(2+) signal, and that they can decode alterations in the frequency even of rapid Ca(2+) oscillations.
Project description:BACKGROUND:Cellular hypertrophy requires coordinated regulation of progrowth and antigrowth mechanisms. In cultured neonatal cardiomyocytes, Foxo transcription factors trigger an atrophy-related gene program that counters hypertrophic growth. However, downstream molecular events are not yet well defined. METHODS AND RESULTS:Here, we report that expression of either Foxo1 or Foxo3 in cardiomyocytes attenuates calcineurin phosphatase activity and inhibits agonist-induced hypertrophic growth. Consistent with these results, Foxo proteins decrease calcineurin phosphatase activity and repress both basal and hypertrophic agonist-induced expression of MCIP1.4, a direct downstream target of the calcineurin/NFAT pathway. Furthermore, hearts from Foxo3-null mice exhibit increased MCIP1.4 abundance and a hypertrophic phenotype with normal systolic function at baseline. Together, these results suggest that Foxo proteins repress cardiac growth at least in part through inhibition of the calcineurin/NFAT pathway. Given that hypertrophic growth of the heart occurs in multiple contexts, our findings also suggest that certain hypertrophic signals are capable of overriding the antigrowth program induced by Foxo. Consistent with this, multiple hypertrophic agonists triggered inactivation of Foxo proteins in cardiomyocytes through a mechanism requiring the PI3K/Akt pathway. In addition, both Foxo1 and Foxo3 are phosphorylated and consequently inactivated in hearts undergoing hypertrophic growth induced by hemodynamic stress. CONCLUSIONS:This study suggests that inhibition of the calcineurin/NFAT signaling cascade by Foxo and release of this repressive action by the PI3K/Akt pathway are important mechanisms whereby Foxo factors govern cell growth in the heart.
Project description:Pathological left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) occurs in response to pressure overload and remains the single most important clinical predictor of cardiac mortality. The molecular pathways in the induction of pressure overload LVH are potential targets for therapeutic intervention. Current treatments aim to remove the pressure overload stimulus for LVH, but do not completely reverse adverse cardiac remodelling. Although numerous molecular signalling steps in the induction of LVH have been identified, the initial step by which mechanical stretch associated with cardiac pressure overload is converted into a chemical signal that initiates hypertrophic signalling remains unresolved. In this study, we show that selective deletion of transient receptor potential melastatin 4 (TRPM4) channels in mouse cardiomyocytes results in an approximately 50% reduction in the LVH induced by transverse aortic constriction. Our results suggest that TRPM4 channel is an important component of the mechanosensory signalling pathway that induces LVH in response to pressure overload and represents a potential novel therapeutic target for the prevention of pathological LVH.
Project description:mAKAPbeta is the scaffold for a multimolecular signaling complex in cardiac myocytes that is required for the induction of neonatal myocyte hypertrophy. We now show that the pro-hypertrophic phosphatase calcineurin binds directly to a single site on mAKAPbeta that does not conform to any of the previously reported consensus binding sites. Calcineurin-mAKAPbeta complex formation is increased in the presence of Ca(2+)/calmodulin and in norepinephrine-stimulated primary cardiac myocytes. This binding is of functional significance because myocytes exhibit diminished norepinephrine-stimulated hypertrophy when expressing a mAKAPbeta mutant incapable of binding calcineurin. In addition to calcineurin, the transcription factor NFATc3 also associates with the mAKAPbeta scaffold in myocytes. Calcineurin bound to mAKAPbeta can dephosphorylate NFATc3 in myocytes, and expression of mAKAPbeta is required for NFAT transcriptional activity. Taken together, our results reveal the importance of regulated calcineurin binding to mAKAPbeta for the induction of cardiac myocyte hypertrophy. Furthermore, these data illustrate how scaffold proteins organizing localized signaling complexes provide the molecular architecture for signal transduction networks regulating key cellular processes.
Project description:Population-based studies identified an association between a prior pregnancy complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction later in life. It is however unclear whether GDM initiates this phenotype and what are the underlying mechanisms. We addressed these questions by using female rats that express human amylin (HIP rats) as a GDM model and their wild-type (WT) littermates as the normal pregnancy model. Pregnant and two months postpartum HIP females had increased left-ventricular mass and wall thickness compared to non-pregnant HIP females, which indicates the presence of concentric hypertrophy. These parameters were unchanged in WT females during both pregnancy and postpartum periods. Hypertrophic Ca2+-dependent calcineurin/NFAT signaling was stimulated two months after giving birth in HIP females but not in the WT. In contrast, the CaMKII/HDAC hypertrophy pathway was active immediately after giving birth and returned to the baseline by two months postpartum in both WT and HIP females. Myocytes from two months postpartum HIP females exhibited slower Ca2+ transient relaxation and higher diastolic Ca2+ levels, which may explain calcineurin activation. No such effects occurred in the WT. These results suggest that a GDM-complicated pregnancy accelerates the development of pathological cardiac remodeling likely through activation of calcineurin/NFAT signaling.
Project description:Hypertrophic heart disease is a leading health problem in Western countries. Here we identified the small EF hand domain-containing protein Ca(2+) and integrin-binding protein-1 (CIB1) in a screen for previously unknown regulators of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Yeast two-hybrid screening for CIB1-interacting partners identified a related EF hand domain-containing protein, calcineurin B, the regulatory subunit of the prohypertrophic protein phosphatase calcineurin. CIB1 localizes primarily to the sarcolemma in mouse and human myocardium, where it anchors calcineurin to control its activation in coordination with the L-type Ca(2+) channel. CIB1 protein amounts and membrane association were enhanced in cardiac pathological hypertrophy, but not in physiological hypertrophy. Consistent with these observations, Cib1-deleted mice showed a marked reduction in myocardial hypertrophy, fibrosis, cardiac dysfunction and calcineurin-nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) activity after pressure overload, whereas the degree of physiologic hypertrophy after swimming exercise was not altered. Transgenic mice with inducible and cardiac-specific overexpression of CIB1 showed enhanced cardiac hypertrophy in response to pressure overload or calcineurin signaling. Moreover, mice lacking Ppp3cb (encoding calcineurin A, beta isozyme) showed no enhancement in cardiac hypertrophy associated with CIB1 overexpression. Thus, CIB1 functions as a previously undescribed regulator of cardiac hypertrophy through its ability to regulate the association of calcineurin with the sarcolemma and its activation.
Project description:Cardiac muscle adapts to hemodynamic stress by altering myocyte size and function, resulting in cardiac hypertrophy. Alteration in myocyte calcium homeostasis is known to be an initial signal in cardiac hypertrophy signaling. Transient receptor potential melastatin 4 protein (TRPM4) is a calcium-activated non-selective cation channel, which plays a role in regulating calcium influx and calcium-dependent cell functions in many cell types including cardiomyocytes. Selective deletion of TRPM4 from the heart muscle in mice resulted in an increased hypertrophic growth after chronic angiotensin (AngII) treatment, compared to WT mice. The enhanced hypertrophic response was also traceable by the increased expression of hypertrophy-related genes like Rcan1, ANP, and α-Actin. Intracellular calcium measurements on isolated ventricular myocytes showed significantly increased store-operated calcium entry upon AngII treatment in myocytes lacking the TRPM4 channel. Elevated intracellular calcium is a key factor in the development of pathological cardiac hypertrophy, leading to the activation of intracellular signaling pathways. In agreement with this, we observed significantly higher Rcan1 mRNA level, calcineurin enzyme activity and protein level in lysates from TRPM4-deficient mice heart compared to WT after AngII treatment. Collectively, these observations are consistent with a model in which TRPM4 is a regulator of calcium homeostasis in cardiomyocytes after AngII stimulation. TRPM4 contributes to the regulation of driving force for store-operated calcium entry and thereby the activation of the calcineurin-NFAT pathway and the development of pathological hypertrophy.
Project description:Activation of the phosphatase calcineurin and its downstream targets, transcription factors of the NFAT family, results in cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Recently, it has been shown that the dual specificity tyrosine (Y) phosphorylation-regulated kinase 1A (DYRK1A) is able to antagonize calcineurin signaling by directly phosphorylating NFATs. We thus hypothesized that DYRK1A might modulate the hypertrophic response of cardiomyocytes. In a model of phenylephrine-induced hypertrophy, adenovirus-mediated overexpression of DYKR1A completely abrogated the hypertrophic response and significantly reduced the expression of the natriuretic peptides ANF and BNP. Furthermore, DYRK1A blunted cardiomyocyte hypertrophy induced by overexpression of constitutively active calcineurin and attenuated the induction of the hypertrophic gene program. Conversely, knockdown of DYRK1A, utilizing adenoviruses encoding for a specific synthetic miRNA, resulted in an increase in cell surface area accompanied by up-regulation of ANF- mRNA. Similarly, treatment of cardiomyocytes with harmine, a specific inhibitor of DYRK1A, revealed cardiomyocyte hypertrophy on morphological and molecular level. Moreover, constitutively active calcineurin led to robust induction of an NFAT-dependent luciferase reporter, whereas DYRK1A attenuated calcineurin-induced reporter activation in cardiomyocytes. Conversely, both knockdown and pharmacological inhibition of DYRK1A significantly augmented the effect of calcineurin in this assay. In summary, we identified DYRK1A as a novel negative regulator of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Mechanistically, this effect appears to be mediated via inhibition of NFAT transcription factors.