Project description:Heart failure is a multisystem syndrome caused by structural and functional defects in multiple tissues. The study aims to identify differentially regulated genes in skeletal muscle of heart failure patients. Here, we obtained biopsies from the pectoralis major muscle and performed RNA sequencing to profile the gene expression patterns from six heart failure patients and three healthy controls.
Project description:Exercise intolerance (EI) and insulin resistance (IR) are hallmarks of heart failure (HF). Abnormalities in skeletal muscle metabolism, where glucose is a major energy source, have been identified in HF and may be a link between EI and IR but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood.
Project description:Male patients (n=6, mean age 62 years) with NYHA III-IV and an left ventricular ejection fraction of <35% despite pharmacological therapy received 35 hours of enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) over a period of 7 weeks. Before and after treatment, lateral vastus muscle biopsies were obtained and skeletal muscle gene expression was evaluated using the Affymetrix HuGene 1.0 platform. Skeletal muscle gene expression before and after treatment with enhanced external counterpulsation for 7 weeks in 6 male patients with severe heart failure
Project description:Cachexia is associated with poor prognosis in patients with chronic heart failure. The underlying mechanisms of cachexia triggered heart failure progression, however, are not well understood. Here, we investigated whether the dysregulation of myokine expression from wasting skeletal muscle and impaired inter-organ crosstalk during advanced heart failure might contribute to progression of the disease. RNA sequencing analysis from wasting skeletal muscles of mice with cardiac cachexia during long-term pressure overload revealed a strongly reduced expression of Ostn. Ostn encodes for the skeletal muscle derived myokine Musclin, which had been previously implicated in the enhancement of natriuretic peptide (NP) signaling. Using newly developed skeletal muscle specific, inducible Ostn knock-out mice, we demonstrated that reduced skeletal muscle Musclin levels exaggerated cardiac dysfunction and myocardial fibrosis compared to littermate control mice after TAC. Restoration of Musclin deficiency during cardiac cachexia via AAV6-mediated skeletal muscle specific Musclin overexpression, in turn, attenuated left ventricular dysfunction and myocardial fibrosis. Mechanistically, we found that Musclin enhanced CNP/NPR2/cGMP signaling in cardiomyocytes, which led to improved contractility by inhibition of the cAMP degrading phosphodiesterase (PDE)3 and augmented cAMP/protein kinase A signaling. In addition, Musclin directly acted on cardiac fibroblasts to inhibit their activation. Together, our study indicates the therapeutic potential of targeting interorgan cross-talk during heart failure, for example by counteracting the impaired secretion of the Musclin from wasting skeletal muscle.
Project description:In chronic heart failure (CHF), functional and metabolic alterations are detected not only in cardiac muscle but also in skeletal muscle tissue. The molecular mechanisms responsible for muscle dysfunction in patients with CHF remain unknown as well as the biological processes responsible for the positive effect of physical exercise training. In this work, using the results of transcriptome sequencing (3' mRNA-Seq), authors identify the molecular mechanisms responsible for reducing muscle dysfunctions in patients with CHF undergoing a personalized program of physical rehabilitation. 3 patients with CHF were enrolled in the study, biopsies of gastrocnemius muscle were taken before and after 12 weeks of individual training program (intensity was determined at 90% of lactate inflection point). Analysis of RNA-Seq data shows the strong upregulation of pathways that control skeletal muscle cell differentiation, muscle contraction, recovery of membrane potential.
Project description:Heart failure and other cardiomyopathies have distinct presentations in males versus females that are often overlooked, leading to ineffective treatment, and contributing to the growing mortality from heart diseases. Understanding the differences in the pathogenesis of heart disease in males and females can guide early diagnostics and sex-specific therapy. Thus, there is a pressing need to investigate the sex-specificity of promoter and enhancer activity in the pathogenesis of heart failure. Here, using cap analysis of gene expression we characterize the sex-specific activity of transcriptional regulatory elements in 17 male and 14 female healthy and failing hearts. We show that differentially expressed transcribed regulatory elements between two sexes are spread throughout the entire genome in healthy and failing atria and ventricles, and are related to immune system, metabolic, cardiomyocyte function, and developmental pathways. Moreover, we found 720 genes with sex-dependent promoter switching of which 40 switched dominant promoters. Among those was CREM, a transcription factor, with a short repressive dominant isoform exclusive for males. CREM is related to extensive β-adrenergic receptor stimulation that leads to elevated arrhythmic activity, hypertrophy and heart dysfunction. Furthermore, we identified metabolic pathways being more responsible for female aging and developmental pathways for male aging. We also showed sex-specific aging patterns, such as age-specific promoter usage of 1,100 genes that behaved differently depending on sex, including UCKL1 and HAND2 linked to uridine metabolism and cardiac development, respectively.
Project description:We demonstrate an age-independent loss of type H bone endothelium in heart failure after myocardial infarction in both mice and in humans. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we delineate the transcriptional heterogeneity of human bone marrow endothelium showing increased expression of inflammatory genes, including IL1B and MYC, in ischemic heart failure. Endothelial-specific overexpression of MYC was sufficient to induce type H bone endothelial cells, whereas inhibition of NLRP3-dependent IL-1 production partially prevents the post-myocardial infarction loss of type H vasculature in mice.