scholarly journals Osteopontin: A Promising Therapeutic Target in Cardiac Fibrosis

Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 1558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iman Abdelaziz Mohamed ◽  
Alain-Pierre Gadeau ◽  
Anwarul Hasan ◽  
Nabeel Abdulrahman ◽  
Fatima Mraiche

Osteopontin (OPN) is recognized for its significant roles in both physiological and pathological processes. Initially, OPN was recognized as a cytokine with pro-inflammatory actions. More recently, OPN has emerged as a matricellular protein of the extracellular matrix (ECM). OPN is also known to be a substrate for proteolytic cleavage by several proteases that form an integral part of the ECM. In the adult heart under physiological conditions, basal levels of OPN are expressed. Increased expression of OPN has been correlated with the progression of cardiac remodeling and fibrosis to heart failure and the severity of the condition. The intricate process by which OPN mediates its effects include the coordination of intracellular signals necessary for the differentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts, promoting angiogenesis, wound healing, and tissue regeneration. In this review, we discuss the role of OPN in contributing to the development of cardiac fibrosis and its suitability as a therapeutic target.

2020 ◽  
Vol 318 (6) ◽  
pp. H1525-H1537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Hu ◽  
Yu-Xia Cui ◽  
Man-Yan Wu ◽  
Long Li ◽  
Li-Na Su ◽  
...  

In this study, we first revealed a novel role of cGAS in the regulation of pathological cardiac remodeling and dysfunction upon pressure overload. We found that the cGAS/STING pathway was activated during pressure overload. Moreover, we also demonstrated that inhibition of the cGAS/STING pathway alleviated pathological cardiac remodeling and downregulated the early inflammatory response during pressure overload-induced HF. Together, these findings will provide a new therapeutic target for HF.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R deFilippi ◽  
G Michael Felker ◽  
◽  

For many with heart failure, including the elderly and those with a preserved ejection fraction, both risk stratification and treatment are challenging. For these large populations and others there is increasing recognition of the role of cardiac fibrosis in the pathophysiology of heart failure. Galectin-3 is a novel biomarker of fibrosis and cardiac remodelling that represents an intriguing link between inflammation and fibrosis. In this article we review the biology of galectin-3, recent clinical research and its application in the management of heart failure patients.


Biomolecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1047
Author(s):  
Kohsuke Shirakawa ◽  
Motoaki Sano

Unprecedented advances in secondary prevention have greatly improved the prognosis of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs); however, CVDs remain a leading cause of death globally. These findings suggest the need to reconsider cardiovascular risk and optimal medical therapy. Numerous studies have shown that inflammation, pro-thrombotic factors, and gene mutations are focused not only on cardiovascular residual risk but also as the next therapeutic target for CVDs. Furthermore, recent clinical trials, such as the Canakinumab Anti-inflammatory Thrombosis Outcomes Study trial, showed the possibility of anti-inflammatory therapy for patients with CVDs. Osteopontin (OPN) is a matricellular protein that mediates diverse biological functions and is involved in a number of pathological states in CVDs. OPN has a two-faced phenotype that is dependent on the pathological state. Acute increases in OPN have protective roles, including wound healing, neovascularization, and amelioration of vascular calcification. By contrast, chronic increases in OPN predict poor prognosis of a major adverse cardiovascular event independent of conventional cardiovascular risk factors. Thus, OPN can be a therapeutic target for CVDs but is not clinically available. In this review, we discuss the role of OPN in the development of CVDs and its potential as a therapeutic target.


2021 ◽  
Vol 129 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Stratton ◽  
Ashley Francois ◽  
Oscar Bermeo-Blanco ◽  
Alessandro Canella ◽  
Lynn Marcho ◽  
...  

Over 6 million Americans suffer from heart failure (HF) while the 5-year mortality rate following first admission for HF is over 40%. Cardiac fibrosis is a clinical hallmark of HF, regardless of the initiating pathology and is thought to contribute to disease progression. Using an epigenomics discovery approach, we uncovered a nuclear protein, Sertad4, as a potential anti-fibrotic target. Our data indicate that Sertad4 is a positive regulator of fibroblast activation. Specifically, cultured cardiac fibroblast experiments demonstrate that Sertad4 targeting with shRNAs blocks fibroblast proliferation and causes cells to arrest in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. Also, shRNA targeting of Sertad4 dramatically blocked activation of myofibroblast differentiation genes (αSMA/POSTN/COL1A1). Mechanistically, these effects appear to be mediated by Sertad4 regulation of SMAD2 protein stability in the presence of TGF-β1 stimulation as demonstrated by proteasome inhibition experiments. RNA-seq analysis indicate that Sertad4 also regulates the expression of genes involved in ubiquitination and proteasome degradation. Next, we sought to determine the effect of global Sertad4 knockout on post-myocardial infarct (MI) remodeling and cardiac function in mice. After 4 weeks of permanent LAD ligation, echocardiography was performed to measure systolic function. Relative to wild-type (WT) controls, the Sertad4 KO mice showed preserved systolic function as evident by improved ejection fraction (WT 14.4 +/- 3.6 vs. KO 33.9+/-5.9, p=0.035) and fractional shortening (WT 6.5 +/- 1.7 vs. KO 16.4 +/- 3.4, p=0.046). β-gal staining in the Sertad4/LacZ reporter mouse subjected to MI showed robust Sertad4/LacZ expression in the ischemic scar and boarder-zone with almost no expression in control hearts. This data supports the notion that Sertad4 has a key role in cardiac remodeling in response to ischemic injury.


Circulation ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 132 (suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Morine ◽  
Vikram Paruchuri ◽  
Xiaoying Qiao ◽  
Emily Mackey ◽  
Mark Aronovitz ◽  
...  

Introduction: Activin receptor like kinase 1 (ALK1) mediates signaling via transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGFb1), a pro-fibrogenic cytokine. No studies have defined a role for ALK1 in heart failure. We tested the hypothesis that reduced ALK1 expression promotes maladaptive cardiac remodeling in heart failure. Methods and Results: ALK1 mRNA expression was quantified by RT-PCR in left ventricular (LV) tissue from patients with end-stage heart failure and compared to control LV tissue obtained from the National Disease Research Interchange (n=8/group). Compared to controls, LV ALK1 mRNA levels were reduced by 85% in patients with heart failure. Next, using an siRNA approach, we tested whether reduced ALK1 levels promote TGFb1-mediated collagen production in human cardiac fibroblasts. Treatment with an ALK1 siRNA reduced ALK1 mRNA levels by 75%. Compared to control, TGFb1-mediated Type I collagen and pSmad-3 protein levels were 2.5-fold and 1.7-fold higher, respectively, after ALK1 depletion. To explore a role for ALK1 in heart failure, ALK1 haploinsufficient (ALK1) and wild-type mice (WT; n=8/group) were studied 2 weeks after thoracic aortic constriction (TAC). Compared to WT, baseline LV ALK1 mRNA levels were 50% lower in ALK1 mice. Both LV and lung weights were higher in ALK1 mice after TAC. Cardiomyocyte area and LV mRNA levels of BNP, RCAN, and b-MHC were increased similarly, while SERCa levels were reduced in both ALK1 and WT mice after TAC. Compared to WT, LV fibrosis (Figure) and Type 1 Collagen mRNA and protein levels were higher among ALK1 mice. Compared to WT, LV fractional shortening (48±12 vs 26±10%, p=0.01) and survival (Figure) were lower in ALK1 mice after TAC. Conclusions: Reduced LV expression of ALK1 is associated with advanced heart failure in humans and promotes early mortality, impaired LV function, and cardiac fibrosis in a murine model of heart failure. Further studies examining the role of ALK1 and ALK1 inhibitors on cardiac remodeling are required.


2018 ◽  
Vol 182 ◽  
pp. 95-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Noordali ◽  
Brodie L. Loudon ◽  
Michael P. Frenneaux ◽  
Melanie Madhani

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng-Long Wu ◽  
Ran Yin ◽  
Su-Nan Wang ◽  
Ru Ying

Chemokine C-X-C motif ligand-1 (CXCL1), principally expressed in neutrophils, macrophages and epithelial cells, is a valid pro-inflammatory factor which performs an important role in mediating the infiltration of neutrophils and monocytes/macrophages. Elevated serum level of CXCL1 is considered a pro-inflammatory reaction by the organism. CXCL1 is also related to diverse organs fibrosis according to relevant studies. A growing body of evidence suggests that CXCL1 promotes the process of cardiac remodeling and fibrosis. Here, we review structure and physiological functions of CXCL1 and recent progress on the effects and mechanisms of CXCL1 in cardiac fibrosis. In addition, we explore the role of CXCL1 in the fibrosis of other organs. Besides, we probe the possibility that CXCL1 can be a therapeutic target for the treatment of cardiac fibrosis in cardiovascular diseases.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiangbin Wu ◽  
Kadiam C Venkata Subbaiah ◽  
Li Huitong Xie ◽  
Feng Jiang ◽  
Deanne Mickelsen ◽  
...  

AbstractRationaleIncreased protein synthesis of pro-fibrotic genes is a common feature of cardiac fibrosis, a major manifestation of heart failure. Despite this important observation, critical factors and molecular mechanisms for translational control of pro-fibrotic genes during cardiac fibrosis remain unclear.ObjectiveThis study aimed to test the hypothesis that cardiac stress-induced expression of a bifunctional aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (ARS), glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA synthetase (EPRS), is preferentially required for the translation of proline codon-rich (PRR) pro-fibrotic mRNAs in cardiac fibroblasts during cardiac fibrosis.Methods and ResultsBy analyses of multiple available unbiased large-scale screening datasets of human and mouse heart failure, we have discovered that EPRS acts as an integrated node among all the ARSs in various cardiac pathogenic processes. We confirmed that EPRS was induced at both mRNA and protein level (∼1.5-2.5 fold increase) in failing hearts compared with non-failing hearts using our cohort of human and mouse heart samples. Genetic knockout of one allele of Eprs globally (Eprs+/-) using CRISPR-Cas9 technology or in a myofibroblast-specific manner (Eprsflox/+; PostnMCM/+) strongly reduces cardiac fibrosis (∼50% reduction) in isoproterenol- and transverse aortic constriction-induced heart failure mouse models. Inhibition of EPRS by a prolyl-tRNA synthetase (PRS)-specific inhibitor, halofuginone (Halo), significantly decreased the translation efficiency of proline-rich collagens in cardiac fibroblasts. Furthermore, using transcriptome-wide RNA-Seq and polysome profiling-Seq in Halo-treated fibroblasts, we identified multiple novel Pro-rich genes in addition to collagens, such as Ltbp2 and Sulf1, which are translationally regulated by EPRS. As a major EPRS downstream effector, SULF1 is highly enriched in human and mouse myofibroblast. siRNA-mediated knockdown of SULF1 attenuates cardiac myofibroblast activation and collagen deposition.ConclusionsOur results indicate that EPRS preferentially controls the translational activation of proline codon-rich pro-fibrotic genes in cardiac fibroblasts and augments pathological cardiac remodeling.Novelty and SignificanceWhat is known?TGF-β and IL-11 increase synthesis of pro-fibrotic proteins during cardiac fibrosis.Many pro-fibrotic genes contain Pro genetic codon rich motifs such as collagens.EPRS is an essential house-keeping enzyme required for ligating Pro to tRNAPro for the synthesis of Pro-containing proteins.What New Information Does This Article Contribute?This study is a pioneering investigation of translational control mechanisms of pro-fibrotic gene expression in cardiac fibrosis.EPRS mRNA and protein expression are induced in failing human hearts and mouse hearts undergoing pathological cardiac remodeling.The first demonstration of the in vivo function of EPRS in cardiac remodeling. Heterozygous Eprs global knockout and myofibroblast-specific tamoxifen-inducible Eprs conditional knockout mice show reduced pathological cardiac fibrosis under stress, suggesting that the reduction of EPRS is cardioprotective.Identification of novel preferential translational target genes of EPRS. We found that EPRS regulates translation of Pro-rich (PRR) transcripts, which comprise most of the ECM and secretory signaling molecules. Among those targets, we identified multiple novel PRR genes such as LTBP2 and SULF1.SULF1 is validated as a myofibroblast marker protein in human and mouse heart failure and a potential anti-fibrosis target gene.In cardiac fibroblasts, the synthesis of pro-fibrotic proteins is upregulated by cardiac stressors to activate extracellular matrix deposition and impair cardiac function. In this study, we have discovered an EPRS-PRR gene axis that influences translational homeostasis of pro-fibrotic proteins and promotes pathological cardiac remodeling and fibrosis. EPRS is identified as a common node downstream of multiple cardiac stressors and a novel regulatory factor that facilitates pro-fibrotic mRNA translation in cardiac fibrosis. Global and myofibroblast-specific genetic ablation of EPRS can effectively reduce cardiac fibrosis. This study reveals a novel translational control mechanism that modulates cardiac fibrosis and heart function. Mild inhibition of PRR mRNA translation could be a general therapeutic strategy for the treatment of heart disease. These findings provide novel insights into the translational control mechanisms of cardiac fibrosis and will promote the development of novel therapeutics by inhibiting pro-fibrotic translation factors or their downstream effectors.


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