scholarly journals MAP Kinase Phosphatase-5 Deficiency Protects Against Pressure Overload-Induced Cardiac Fibrosis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Zhong ◽  
Kisuk Min ◽  
Zhiqiang Zhao ◽  
Cheng Zhang ◽  
Erhe Gao ◽  
...  

Cardiac fibrosis, a pathological condition due to excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition in the myocardium, is associated with nearly all forms of heart disease. The processes and mechanisms that regulate cardiac fibrosis are not fully understood. In response to cardiac injury, macrophages undergo marked phenotypic and functional changes and act as crucial regulators of myocardial fibrotic remodeling. Here we show that the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphatase-5 (MKP-5) in macrophages is involved in pressure overload-induced cardiac fibrosis. Cardiac pressure overload resulting from transverse aortic constriction (TAC) leads to the upregulation of Mkp-5 gene expression in the heart. In mice lacking MKP-5, p38 MAPK and JNK were hyperactivated in the heart, and TAC-induced cardiac hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis were attenuated. MKP-5 deficiency upregulated the expression of the ECM-degrading matrix metalloproteinase-9 (Mmp-9) in the Ly6Clow (M2-type) cardiac macrophage subset. Consistent with in vivo findings, MKP-5 deficiency promoted MMP-9 expression and activity of pro-fibrotic macrophages in response to IL-4 stimulation. Furthermore, using pharmacological inhibitors against p38 MAPK, JNK, and ERK, we demonstrated that MKP-5 suppresses MMP-9 expression through a combined effect of p38 MAPK/JNK/ERK, which subsequently contributes to the inhibition of ECM-degrading activity. Taken together, our study indicates that pressure overload induces MKP-5 expression and facilitates cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. MKP-5 deficiency attenuates cardiac fibrosis through MAPK-mediated regulation of MMP-9 expression in Ly6Clow cardiac macrophages.

2018 ◽  
Vol 132 (6) ◽  
pp. 685-699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen-Guo Ma ◽  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Yu-Pei Yuan ◽  
Ya-Ge Jin ◽  
Ning Li ◽  
...  

T-cell infiltration and the subsequent increased intracardial chronic inflammation play crucial roles in the development of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure (HF). A77 1726, the active metabolite of leflunomide, has been reported to have powerful anti-inflammatory and T cell-inhibiting properties. However, the effect of A77 1726 on cardiac hypertrophy remains completely unknown. Herein, we found that A77 1726 treatment attenuated pressure overload or angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced cardiac hypertrophy in vivo, as well as agonist-induced hypertrophic response of cardiomyocytes in vitro. In addition, we showed that A77 1726 administration prevented induction of cardiac fibrosis by inhibiting cardiac fibroblast (CF) transformation into myofibroblast. Surprisingly, we found that the protective effect of A77 1726 was not dependent on its T lymphocyte-inhibiting property. A77 1726 suppressed the activation of protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathway, and overexpression of constitutively active AKT completely abolished A77 1726-mediated cardioprotective effects in vivo and in vitro. Pretreatment with siRNA targetting Fyn (si Fyn) blunted the protective effect elicited by A77 1726 in vitro. More importantly, A77 1726 was capable of blocking pre-established cardiac hypertrophy in mice. In conclusion, A77 1726 attenuated cardiac hypertrophy and cardiac fibrosis via inhibiting FYN/AKT signaling pathway.


2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (24) ◽  
pp. 10611-10620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuhiko Nishida ◽  
Osamu Yamaguchi ◽  
Shinichi Hirotani ◽  
Shungo Hikoso ◽  
Yoshiharu Higuchi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The molecular mechanism for the transition from cardiac hypertrophy, an adaptive response to biomechanical stress, to heart failure is poorly understood. The mitogen-activated protein kinase p38α is a key component of stress response pathways in various types of cells. In this study, we attempted to explore the in vivo physiological functions of p38α in hearts. First, we generated mice with floxed p38α alleles and crossbred them with mice expressing the Cre recombinase under the control of the α-myosin heavy-chain promoter to obtain cardiac-specific p38α knockout mice. These cardiac-specific p38α knockout mice were born normally, developed to adulthood, were fertile, exhibited a normal life span, and displayed normal global cardiac structure and function. In response to pressure overload to the left ventricle, they developed significant levels of cardiac hypertrophy, as seen in controls, but also developed cardiac dysfunction and heart dilatation. This abnormal response to pressure overload was accompanied by massive cardiac fibrosis and the appearance of apoptotic cardiomyocytes. These results demonstrate that p38α plays a critical role in the cardiomyocyte survival pathway in response to pressure overload, while cardiac hypertrophic growth is unaffected despite its dramatic down-regulation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 849-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanqing Zhang ◽  
Pingping Liao ◽  
Meng’en Zhu ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Dan Hu ◽  
...  

Background/Aims: Baicalin has been shown to be effective for various animal models of cardiovascular diseases, such as pulmonary hypertension, atherosclerosis and myocardial ischaemic injury. However, whether baicalin plays a role in cardiac hypertrophy remains unknown. Here we investigated the protective effects of baicalin on cardiac hypertrophy induced by pressure overload and explored the potential mechanisms involved. Methods: C57BL/6J-mice were treated with baicalin or vehicle following transverse aortic constriction or Sham surgery for up to 8 weeks, and at different time points, cardiac function and heart size measurement and histological and biochemical examination were performed. Results: Mice under pressure overload exhibited cardiac dysfunction, high mortality, myocardial hypertrophy, increased apoptosis and fibrosis markers, and suppressed cardiac expression of PPARα and PPARβ/δ. However, oral administration of baicalin improved cardiac dysfunction, decreased mortality, and attenuated histological and biochemical changes described above. These protective effects of baicalin were associated with reduced heart and cardiomyocyte size, lower fetal genes expression, attenuated cardiac fibrosis, lower expression of profibrotic markers, and decreased apoptosis signals in heart tissue. Moreover, we found that baicalin induced PPARα and PPARβ/δ expression in vivo and in vitro. Subsequent experiments demonstrated that long-term baicalin treatment presented no obvious cardiac lipotoxicity. Conclusions: The present results demonstrated that baicalin attenuates pressure overload induced cardiac dysfunction and ventricular remodeling, which would be due to suppressed cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, apoptosis and metabolic abnormality.


2012 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting-Hsing Chao ◽  
Shih-Ya Tseng ◽  
Yi-Heng Li ◽  
Ping-Yen Liu ◽  
Chung-Lung Cho ◽  
...  

Cilostazol is an anti-platelet agent with vasodilatory activity that acts by increasing intracellular concentrations of cAMP. Recent reports have suggested that cilostazol may promote angiogenesis. In the present study, we have investigated the effect of cilostazol in promoting angiogenesis and vasculogenesis in a hindlimb ischaemia model and have also examined its potential mechanism of action in vitro and in vivo. We found that cilostazol treatment significantly increased colony formation by human early EPCs (endothelial progenitor cells) through a mechanism involving the activation of cAMP/PKA (protein kinase A), PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase)/Akt/eNOS (endothelial NO synthase) and ERK (extracellular-signal-regulated kinase)/p38 MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) signalling pathways. Cilostazol also enhanced proliferation, chemotaxis, NO production and vascular tube formation in HUVECs (human umbilical vein endothelial cells) through activation of multiple signalling pathways downstream of PI3K/Akt/eNOS. Cilostazol up-regulated VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor)-A165 expression and secretion of VEGF-A in HUVECs through activation of the PI3K/Akt/eNOS pathway. In a mouse hindlimb ischaemia model, recovery of blood flow ratio (ipsilateral/contralateral) 14 days after surgery was significantly improved in cilostazol-treated mice (10 mg/kg of body weight) compared with vehicle-treated controls (0.63±0.07 and 0.43±0.05 respectively, P<0.05). Circulating CD34+ cells were also increased in cilostazol-treated mice (3614±670 compared with 2151±608 cells/ml, P<0.05). Expression of VEGF and phosphorylation of PI3K/Akt/eNOS and ERK/p38 MAPK in ischaemic muscles were significantly enhanced by cilostazol. Our data suggest that cilostazol produces a vasculo-angiogenic effect by up-regulating a broad signalling network that includes the ERK/p38 MAPK, VEGF-A165, PI3K/Akt/eNOS and cAMP/PKA pathways.


2016 ◽  
Vol 119 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Masataka Nishiga ◽  
Takahiro Horie ◽  
Yasuhide Kuwabara ◽  
Osamu Baba ◽  
Tetsushi Nakao ◽  
...  

Background: A highly conserved microRNA, miR-33 is considered as a potential therapeutic target for atherosclerosis, because recent reports, including ours, indicated miR-33 has atherogenic effects by reducing HDL-C. However, the functions of miR-33 in heart failure remain to be elucidated. Methods and results: To clarify the functions of miR-33 involved in cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis in vivo, we investigated the responses to pressure overload by transverse aortic constriction (TAC) in miR-33 deficient (KO) mice. When subjected to TAC, miR-33 expression level was significantly up-regulated in wild-type (WT) left ventricles, whereas miR-33 KO hearts displayed no less hypertrophic responses than WT hearts. However, interestingly, histological and gene expression analyses showed ameliorated cardiac fibrosis in miR-33 KO hearts compared to WT hearts. Furthermore, we generated cardiac fibroblast specific miR-33 deficient mice, which also showed ameliorated cardiac fibrosis when they were subjected to TAC. We also found that cardiac fibroblasts were mainly responsible for miR-33 expression in the heart, because its expression was about 4-folds higher in isolated primary cardiac fibroblasts than cardiomyocytes. Deficiency of miR-33 impaired cell proliferation in primary fibroblasts, which was considered due to altered lipid raft cholesterol content by up-regulated ATP-binding cassette transporter A1/G1. Conclusion: Deficiency of miR-33 impaired fibroblast proliferation in vitro, and ameliorated cardiac fibrosis induced by pressure overload in vivo.


2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-223
Author(s):  
Mohamad Nusier ◽  
Mohammad Alqudah ◽  
Vijayan Elimban ◽  
Naranjan S. Dhalla

This study examined the effects of ischemic preconditioning (IP) on the ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) induced injury in normal and hypertrophied hearts. Cardiac hypertrophy in rabbits was induced by L-thyroxine (0.5 mg/kg/day for 16 days). Hearts with or without IP (3 cycles of 5 min ischemia and 10 min reperfusion) were subjected to I/R (60 min ischemia followed by 60 min reperfusion). IP reduced the I/R-induced infarct size from 68% to 24% and 57% to 33% in the normal and hypertrophied hearts, respectively. Leakage of creatine phosphokinase in the perfusate from the hypertrophied hearts due to I/R was markedly less than that form the normal hearts; IP prevented these changes. Although IP augmented the increase in phosphorylated p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38-MAPK) content due to I/R, this effect was less in the hypertrophied than in the normal heart. These results suggest that reduced cardioprotection by IP of the I/R-induced injury in hypertrophied hearts may be due to reduced activation of p38-MAPK in comparison with normal hearts.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 3325
Author(s):  
Sofia Karkampouna ◽  
Danny van der Helm ◽  
Mario Scarpa ◽  
Bart van Hoek ◽  
Hein W. Verspaget ◽  
...  

Oncofetal protein, CRIPTO, is silenced during homeostatic postnatal life and often re-expressed in different neoplastic processes, such as hepatocellular carcinoma. Given the reactivation of CRIPTO in pathological conditions reported in various adult tissues, the aim of this study was to explore whether CRIPTO is expressed during liver fibrogenesis and whether this is related to the disease severity and pathogenesis of fibrogenesis. Furthermore, we aimed to identify the impact of CRIPTO expression on fibrogenesis in organs with high versus low regenerative capacity, represented by murine liver fibrogenesis and adult murine heart fibrogenesis. Circulating CRIPTO levels were measured in plasma samples of patients with cirrhosis registered at the waitlist for liver transplantation (LT) and 1 year after LT. The expression of CRIPTO and fibrotic markers (αSMA, collagen type I) was determined in human liver tissues of patients with cirrhosis (on a basis of viral hepatitis or alcoholic disease), in cardiac tissue samples of patients with end-stage heart failure, and in mice with experimental liver and heart fibrosis using immuno-histochemical stainings and qPCR. Mouse models with experimental chronic liver fibrosis, induced with multiple shots of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and acute liver fibrosis (one shot of CCl4), were evaluated for CRIPTO expression and fibrotic markers. CRIPTO was overexpressed in vivo (Adenoviral delivery) or functionally sequestered by ALK4Fc ligand trap in the acute liver fibrosis mouse model. Murine heart tissues were evaluated for CRIPTO and fibrotic markers in three models of heart injury following myocardial infarction, pressure overload, and ex vivo induced fibrosis. Patients with end-stage liver cirrhosis showed elevated CRIPTO levels in plasma, which decreased 1 year after LT. Cripto expression was observed in fibrotic tissues of patients with end-stage liver cirrhosis and in patients with heart failure. The expression of CRIPTO in the liver was found specifically in the hepatocytes and was positively correlated with the Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score for end-stage liver disease. CRIPTO expression in the samples of cardiac fibrosis was limited and mostly observed in the interstitial cells. In the chronic and acute mouse models of liver fibrosis, CRIPTO-positive cells were observed in damaged liver areas around the central vein, which preceded the expression of αSMA-positive stellate cells, i.e., mediators of fibrosis. In the chronic mouse models, the fibrosis and CRIPTO expression were still present after 11 weeks, whereas in the acute model the liver regenerated and the fibrosis and CRIPTO expression resolved. In vivo overexpression of CRIPTO in this model led to an increase in fibrotic markers, while blockage of CRIPTO secreted function inhibited the extent of fibrotic areas and marker expression (αSMA, Collagen type I and III) and induced higher proliferation of residual healthy hepatocytes. CRIPTO expression was also upregulated in several mouse models of cardiac fibrosis. During myocardial infarction CRIPTO is upregulated initially in cardiac interstitial cells, followed by expression in αSMA-positive myofibroblasts throughout the infarct area. After the scar formation, CRIPTO expression decreased concomitantly with the αSMA expression. Temporal expression of CRIPTO in αSMA-positive myofibroblasts was also observed surrounding the coronary arteries in the pressure overload model of cardiac fibrosis. Furthermore, CRIPTO expression was upregulated in interstitial myofibroblasts in hearts cultured in an ex vivo model for cardiac fibrosis. Our results are indicative for a functional role of CRIPTO in the induction of fibrogenesis as well as a potential target in the antifibrotic treatments and stimulation of tissue regeneration.


2011 ◽  
Vol 109 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sundaravadivel Balasubramanian ◽  
Harinath Kasiganesan ◽  
Lakeya Quinones ◽  
Yuhua Zhang ◽  
Amy Bradshaw ◽  
...  

During prolonged hypertrophic insult to the myocardium, while the function of cardiomyocytes needs to be protected, the hyperactivation of cardiac fibroblasts has to be curbed to prevent fibrosis. Previously, we showed that integrin-mediated non-receptor tyrosine kinase (NRTK) activation is required for normal functioning of both cardiac fibroblasts and cardiomyocytes. We hypothesized that inhibition of NRTKs in cardiac fibroblasts without affecting cardiomyocytes would be beneficial to the stressed myocardium. Our initial studies using kinase inactive forms of Src, Pyk2 and FAK expressed adenovirally in isolated primary cardiac fibroblasts showed that the pro-fibrotic signaling events as studied by fibronectin and collagen deposition are downregulated. Our in vivo studies in mouse transverse aortic constriction (TAC) model suggest that dasatinib, a multikinase NRTK inhibitor administration via a peritoneally implanted mini-osmotic pump is able to preserve ventricular geometry and function and reduce the accumulation of fibrotic extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins upon 4 wk pressure overload. Data obtained from cell culture experiments with kinase inactive NRTKs and dasatinib suggest that NRTK inhibition is able to reduce the proliferation, migration and mitogenic signaling in cardiac fibroblasts without affecting the cell survival pathways in cardiomyocytes. These data indicate that NRTKs play a significant pro-fibrotic role in cardiac fibroblasts and curbing the activity of NRTKs could be a potential therapeutic approach to treat fibrosis in hypertrophic heart diseases.


2011 ◽  
Vol 109 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Davy Vanhoutte ◽  
Jop Van Berlo ◽  
Allen J York ◽  
Yi Zheng ◽  
Jeffery D Molkentin

Background. Small GTPase RhoA has been previously implicated as an important signaling effector within the cardiomyocyte. However, recent studies have challenged the hypothesized role of RhoA as an effector of cardiac hypertrophy. Therefore, this study examined the in vivo role of RhoA in the development of pathological cardiac hypertrophy. Methods and results . Endogenous RhoA protein expression and activity levels (GTP-bound) in wild-type hearts were significantly increased after pressure overload induced by transverse aortic constriction (TAC). To investigate the necessity of RhoA within the adult heart, RhoA-LoxP-targeted (RhoA flx/flx ) mice were crossed with transgenic mice expressing Cre recombinase under the control of the endogenous cardiomyocyte-specific β-myosin heavy chain (β-MHC) promoter to generate RhoA βMHC-cre mice. Deletion of RhoA with β-MHC-Cre produced viable adults with > 85% loss of RhoA protein in the heart, without altering the basic architecture and function of the heart compared to control hearts, at both 2 and 8 months of age. However, subjecting RhoA βMHC-cre hearts to 2 weeks of TAC resulted in marked increase in cardiac hypertrophy (HW/BW (mg/g): 9.5 ± 0.3 for RhoA βMHC-cre versus 7.7 ± 0.4 for RhoA flx/flx ; and cardiomyocyte size (mm 2 ): 407 ± 21 for RhoA βMHC-cre versus 262 ± 8 for RhoA flx/flx ; n ≥ 8 per group; p<0.01) and a significantly increased fibrotic response. Moreover, RhoA βMHC-cre hearts transitioned more quickly into heart failure whereas control mice maintained proper cardiac function (fractional shortening (%): 23.3 ± 1.2 for RhoA βMHC-cre versus 29.3 ± 1.2 for RhoA flx/flx ; n ≥ 8 per group; p<0.01; 12 weeks after TAC). The latter was further associated with a significant increase in lung weight normalized to body weight and re-expression of the cardiac fetal gene program. In addition, these mice also displayed greater cardiac hypertrophy in response to 2 weeks of angiotensinII/phenylephrine infusion. Conclusion. These data identify RhoA as an antihypertrophic molecular switch in the mouse heart.


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