Project description:Pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy was examined in IL-18 knockout and littermate control mice. Experiment Overall Design: 4 groups with RNA pooled from 5-6 per group. Role of IL-18 on gene expression in cardiac hypertrophy induced by pressure overload (transaortic constriction)
Project description:Cardiac hypertrophy has been well-characterized at the level of transcription. During cardiac hypertrophy, genes normally expressed primarily during fetal heart development are re-expressed, and this fetal gene program is believed to be a critical component of the hypertrophic process. Recently, alternative splicing of mRNA transcripts has been shown to be temporally regulated during heart development, leading us to consider whether fetal patterns of splicing also reappear during hypertrophy.We hypothesized that patterns of alternative splicing occurring during heart development are recapitulated during cardiac hypertrophy. Here we present a whole-transcriptome study of isoform expression during pressure-overload cardiac hypertrophy induced by 10 days of transverse aortic constriction (TAC) in rats and in developing fetal rat hearts compared to sham-operated adult rat hearts, using high-throughput sequencing of poly(A) tail mRNA. Quantification of isoform expression in fetal rat hearts, pressure-overloaded rat hearts, and sham-operated rat hearts by Illumina GAIIx in triplicate
Project description:The HECT domain E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 3 (HectD3) is highly expressed in the heart, but its cardiac function is still unknown. Here, we identified SUMO2 and Stat1 as novel cardiac substrates for HectD3. SUMO2 is a potent inducer of Calcineurin-NFAT mediated cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, whereas, Stat1 is an interferon responsive transcription factor that plays crucial role in cellular immune responses. HectD3 overexpression on one hand attenuated SUMO2-Calcineurin-NFAT signaling driven cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, on the other hand, it abrogated the pro-inflammatory actions of LPS or interferon-γ in cardiomyocytes in vitro. Consistently, AAV9-mediated overexpression of HectD3 in mice in vivo not only reduced cardiac SUMO2/Stat1 levels and pathological hypertrophy but also alleviated macrophage infiltration and fibrosis induced by pressure overload. In conclusion, we describe a novel cardioprotective mechanism involving the ubiquitin ligase HectD3, which exerts anti-hypertrophic and anti-inflammatory effects via dual regulation of SUMO2 and Stat1.
Project description:The heart responds to pathological overload through myocyte hypertrophy. In our study, we found that this response is regulated by cardiac fibroblasts via a novel paracrine mechanism involving plasma membrane calcium ATPase 4 (PMCA4). PMCA4 deletion in mice, both systemically and specifically in fibroblasts, reduces the hypertrophic response to pressure overload; however, knocking out PMCA4 specifically in cardiomyocytes does not produce this effect. Mechanistically, our microarray data on fibroblasts isolated from PMCA4 WT and PMCA4 knockout animals showed that cardiac fibroblasts lacking PMCA4 produce higher levels of secreted frizzled related protein 2 (sFRP2), which inhibits the hypertrophic response in neighbouring cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, we show that treatment with the PMCA4 inhibitor aurintricarboxylic acid (ATA) inhibits and reverses cardiac hypertrophy induced by pressure overload in mice. Our results reveal that PMCA4 regulates the development of cardiac hypertrophy and provide proof of principle for a novel approach to treat this condition.
Project description:Pathological cardiac hypertrophy was induced by pressure overload on the heart. We performed genome-wide exon array experiments with left ventricles of mice with 1 week and 4 week of transverse aortic constriction (TAC). The exon level analysis revealed widespread regulation of alternative splicing and alternative polyadenylation during hypertrophy.
Project description:Failure of molecular chaperones to direct the correct folding of newly synthesized proteins leads to the accumulation of misfolded proteins in cells. HSPA4 is a member of the heat shock protein 110 family (HSP110) that acts as a nucleotide exchange factor of HSP70 chaperones. We found that the expression of HSPA4 is upregulated in murine hearts subjected to pressure overload and in failing human hearts. To investigate the cardiac function of HSPA4, Hspa4 knockout (KO) mice were generated and exhibited cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. Hspa4 KO hearts were characterized by a significant increase in heart weight/body weight ratio, elevated expression of hypertrophic and fibrotic gene markers, and concentric hypertrophy with preserved contractile functions. Cardiac hypertrophy in Hspa4 KO hearts was associated with enhanced activation of gp130-STAT3, CaMKII, and calcineurin-NFAT signaling. Further analyses revealed a significant increase in cross sectional area of cardiomyocytes, and in expression levels of hypertrophic markers in cultured neonatal Hspa4 KO cardiomyocytes suggesting that the hypertrophy of mutant mice was a result of primary defects in cardiomyocytes. Gene expression profile in hearts of 3.5-week-old mice revealed a differentially expressed gene sets related to ion channels and stress response. Taken together, these results reveal that HSPA4 is implicated in protection against pressure overload-induced heart failure. Total RNA was extracted from heart ventricles of 3.5-week-old Hspa4+/+ and Hspa4-/- males (n = 3 mice for each genotype).
Project description:Expression profiles at various time points after surgical intervention for pressure-overload induced cardiac hypertrophy and failure.
Project description:Pathological cardiac hypertrophy was induced by pressure overload on the heart. We performed genome-wide exon array experiments with left ventricles of mice with 1 week and 4 week of transverse aortic constriction (TAC). The exon level analysis revealed widespread regulation of alternative splicing and alternative polyadenylation during hypertrophy. Exon and gene expression changes were examined in 1 week and 4 week TAC-operated hearts compared to sham-operated hearts. We used C57/BL6 wildtype mice, and their left ventricles were subject to surgery (each n=2).