KDM3A is a Positive Regulator of Cardiac Fibroblasts Conversion that Increases Smad3 Phosphorylation Following TGFβ1 Stimulation
Abstract The epigenetic molecule KDM3A has been shown to be involved in improving cardiovascular diseases, but its effect on cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) remains unclear. Thus, we designed the gain- and loss-of-function experiments to investigate the biological functions of KDM3A in cardiac fibroblasts (CFs). Moreover, we added a SIS3-HCL (a specific inhibitor of p-Smad3) to explore the underlying mechanism. The cells viability and migration were verified by CCK-8 and cell migration experiments, respectively, and the degree of fibrosis was measured by Western blot analysis. Our data reveal that KDM3A enhance the proliferation and migration of cardiac fibroblasts, meanwhile, increasing the fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition, while enabling Smad3 phosphorylation response to TGFβ1 stimuli. However, these results could be abolished by SIS3-HCL, an inhibitor of the p-Smad3. Furthermore, KDM3A inhibition obviously protect cardiac fibroblasts conversion against TGFβ1 stimuli. These results identify that KDM3A may be a novel regulator of the cardiac fibroblasts conversion, through its ability to modulate phosphorylation of Smad3 following TGFβ1 stimuli.