Interferon Regulatory Factor 7 Functions as a Novel Negative Regulator of Pathological Cardiac Hypertrophy

Duck hepatitis A virus (DHAV), which mainly infects 1- to 4-week-old ducklings, has a fatality rate of 95% and poses a huge economic threat to the duck industry. However, the mechanism by which DHAV-1 regulates the immune response of host cells is rarely reported. This study examined whether DHAV-1 contains a viral protein that can regulate the innate immunity of host cells and its specific regulatory mechanism, further exploring the mechanism by which DHAV-1 resists the host immune response. In the study, the dual-luciferase reporter gene system was used to screen the viral protein that regulates the host innate immunity and the target of this viral protein. The results indicate that the DHAV-1 3C protein inhibits the pathway upstream of interferon (IFN)-β by targeting the interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) protein. In addition, we found that the 3C protein inhibits the nuclear translocation of the IRF7 protein. Further experiments showed that the 3C protein interacts with the IRF7 protein through its N-terminus and that the 3C protein degrades the IRF7 protein in a caspase 3-dependent manner, thereby inhibiting the IFN-β-mediated antiviral response to promote the replication of DHAV-1. The results of this study are expected to serve as a reference for elucidating the mechanisms of DHAV-1 infection and pathogenicity.

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Abstract 026: Role of Tank in the Regulation of Pathological Cardiac Hypertrophy

Hypertension ◽

10.1161/hyp.68.suppl_1.026 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 68 (suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Hongliang Li ◽

Peng Zhang

Keyword(s):

Cardiac Hypertrophy ◽

Cardiac Dysfunction ◽

Pressure Overload ◽

Adaptor Protein ◽

Negative Regulator ◽

Akt Inhibitor ◽

Aortic Banding ◽

Pathological Cardiac Hypertrophy

TRAF associated NF-κB activator (TANK) is adaptor protein which was identified as a negative regulator of TRAF-, TBK1- and IKKi-mediated signal transduction through its interaction with them. Besides its important roles in the regulation of immune response, it has been reported that TANK contributes to the development of autoimmune nephritis and osteoclastogenesis. However, its functions in cardiovascular diseases especially cardiac hypertrophy is largely unknown. In the present study, we interestingly observed that TNAK expression is increased by 240% in human hypertrophic cardiomyopathy(HCM)tissue and 320% in mouse hypertrophic heart after aortic banding (AB), indicating that TANK may be involved in the pathogenesis of this diseases. Subsequently, cardiac-specific TANK knockout (TANK-KO) and transgenic(TANK-TG)mice were generated and subjected to AB for 4 to 8 weeks. Our results demonstrated that TANK deficiency prevented against cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis induced by pressure overload,as evidenced by that the cardiomyocytes enlargement and fibrosis formation was reduced by about 34% and 43% compared with WT mice, respectively. Conversely, TANK-TG mice showed an aggravated effect on cardiac hypertrophy in response to pressure overload with 36% and 47% increase of cardiomyocytes enlargement and fibrosis formation compared with non-transgenic mice. More importantly, in vitro experiments further revealed that TANK overexpression which was mediated by adenovirus in the cardiomyocytes dramatically increased the cell size and the expression of hypertrophic markers, whereas TANK knockdown had an opposite function. Mechanistically, we discovered that AKT signaling was activated (230%) in the hearts of TANK-TG mice, while being greatly reduced in TNAK-KO hearts after aortic banding. Moreover, blocking AKT/GSK3β signaling with a pharmacological AKT inhibitor reversed cardiac dysfunction of TANK-TG mice. Collectively, our data show that TNAK acts as a novel regulator of pathological cardiac hypertrophy and may be a promising therapeutic targets.

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Abstract 197: Overexpression of the Na+/K+ ATPase a2 But Not a1 Isoform Attenuates Pathological Cardiac Hypertrophy and Remodeling

Circulation Research ◽

10.1161/res.113.suppl_1.a197 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 113 (suppl_1) ◽

Author(s):

Robert N Correll ◽

Petra Eder ◽

Adam R Burr ◽

Sanda Despa ◽

Jennifer Davis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cardiac Hypertrophy ◽

Protective Effect ◽

Pressure Overload ◽

Negative Regulator ◽

Protective Measure ◽

Nuclear Factor ◽

Activated T Cells ◽

Reverse Mode ◽

Pathological Cardiac Hypertrophy ◽

Protein Kinase Cα

The Na+/K+ ATPase (NKA) directly regulates intracellular Na+ levels, which indirectly regulate Ca2+ levels by controlling flux through the Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX1). Elevated Na+ levels have been reported during heart failure, which permits some degree of reverse mode Ca2+ entry through NCX1 and less efficient Ca2+ clearance. To determine if lower intracellular Na+ levels would enhance forward-mode Ca2+ clearance and prevent reverse-mode Ca2+ entry through NCX1 as a protective measure, we generated cardiac-specific transgenic mice overexpressing either the NKA-α1 or α2 isoform and subjected them to pressure overload hypertrophic stimulation. We found that while increased expression of the NKA-α1 isoform had no protective effect, overexpression of NKA-α2 significantly decreased cardiac hypertrophy after pressure overload at 2, 10 and 16 weeks of stimulation. Remarkably, total NKA protein expression was not altered in either of these 2 transgenic models, as increased expression of one isoform led to a concomitant decrease in the other endogenous isoform. While total NKA ATPase activity and intracellular Na+ levels were unchanged in either overexpression model, and both showed reduced Ca2+ transient amplitudes and sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ load, only NKA-α2 overexpression led to faster removal of bulk Ca2+ from the cytosol in a manner requiring NCX1 activity. This increased NCX1 activity, though correlated with improved outcome after pressure overload, did not affect signaling through Ca2+-sensitive signaling pathways such as calcineurin/nuclear factor of activated T-cells, Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase II, or protein kinase Cα. Overexpression of NKA-α2 did, however, result in reduced expression of phospholemman (PLM), an inhibitor of NKA activity (when dephosphorylated) and NCX1 activity (when phosphorylated). Our results suggest that the protective effect produced by increased expression of NKA-α2 after pressure overload is likely due to: 1) Na+ regulation in a unique signaling microdomain distinct from NKA-α1, and 2) downregulation of PLM expression that removes a negative regulator of NCX1 activity, both leading to preservation of forward-mode NCX1 activity during disease, in association with optimized cardiac function.

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