HuR-dependent expression of Wisp1 is necessary for TGFβ-induced cardiac myofibroblast activity.

ABSTRACT: Cardiac fibrosis is regulated by the activation and phenotypic switching of quiescent cardiac fibroblasts to active myofibroblasts, which have extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling and contractile functions which play a central role in cardiac remodeling in response to injury. Here, we show that expression and activity of the RNA binding protein HuR is increased in cardiac fibroblasts upon transformation to an active myofibroblast. Pharmacological inhibition of HuR significantly blunts the TGFβ-dependent increase in ECM remodeling genes, total collagen secretion, in vitro scratch closure, and collagen gel contraction in isolated primary cardiac fibroblasts, suggesting a suppression of TGFβ-induced myofibroblast activation upon HuR inhibition. We identified twenty-four mRNA transcripts that

SUBMITTER: Green LC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9868076 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature