Project description:BACKGROUND: Cardiac hypertrophy compensates for increased biomechanical stress of the heart induced by prevalent cardiovascular pathologies, but can result in cardiac failure if left untreated. We hypothesized that the tail-anchored protein Dysferlin with multiple Ca2+-binding C2-domains is critical for the integrity of the transverse-axial tubule (TAT) network inside cardiomyocytes, and contributes to the proliferation of TAT endomembranes during pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy. OBJECTIVE: To reveal the impact of the membrane fusion and repair protein Dysferlin on TAT network stabilization and proliferation necessary for the hypertrophic growth of cardiomyocytes. METHODS AND RESULTS: Super-resolution light and electron microscopy of mouse cardiomyocytes identified a specific localization of Dysferlin in a vesicular compartment in nanometric proximity to contact sites of the TAT network with the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR), a.k.a. junctional complexes for Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release. Mass spectrometry was used to characterize the cardiac Dysferlin interactome, thereby identifying a novel protein interaction with the membrane-tethering SR protein Juncophilin-2, a known interactor of L-type Ca2+ channels and Ryanodine Receptor Ca2+ release channels in junctional complexes. While the Dysferlin knockout caused a mild progressive phenotype of dilated cardiomyopathy in the mouse heart, global proteome analysis revealed changes preceding systolic failure. Following transverse aortic constriction (TAC), Dysferlin protein expression was significantly increased in hypertrophied wild-type myocardium, while Dysferlin knockout animals presented markedly reduced left-ventricular hypertrophy. Live-cell membrane imaging demonstrated a profound reorganization of the TAT network in wild-type left-ventricular myocytes post-TAC with robust proliferation of axial tubules, which critically depended on the increased expression of Dysferlin within newly-emerging tubule components. CONCLUSIONS: Dysferlin represents a new molecular target in cardiac disease that protects the integrity of tubule-SR junctional complexes for regulated excitation-contraction coupling, and controls TAT network reorganization and tubular membrane proliferation in cardiomyocyte hypertrophy induced by pressure-overload.

Project description:VEGF family members are important regulators of vascular functions. Promoting VEGFA signalling in aged mice has been shown to delay various aging phenotypes and extend the survival of aged mice. Although there is profound knowledge on functions of VEGFA, VEGFB has not been investigated in the context of cardiac aging. Our RNA data of aged mouse hearts revealed significant downregulation of Vegfb in the heart, specifically in endothelial cells and cardiomyocytes, while VEGFB expression was reduced in endothelial cells, fibroblasts and cardiomyocytes in aged human hearts. By contrast, VEGFB expression was exclusively reduced in cardiomyocytes of patients with cardiac hypertrophy. Hence, we investigated whether Vegfb gene therapy can revert age-dependent cardiac pathologies. We overexpressed Vegfb186, the soluble VEGFB isoform, via AAV9 vector transduction into 18-month-old C57Bl/6J male mice. AAV9-Vegfb treatment prevented progression age-related diastolic dysfunction and decreased cardiac fibrosis. We further found a rescue of aging-related left ventricular denervation in the hearts of AVV9-Vegfb treated old mice which was associated with an increase in heart rate variability. However, heart to body weight ratio and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy were increased in the AAV9-Vegfb treated mouse hearts, without alteration of cardiac systolic or diastolic function. Histological and transcriptomic analyses revealed that VEGFB186 induces compensatory cardiac hypertrophy which was accompanied by a rescued length-width-ratio, reduced fibrosis and the absence of cardiac inflammation. Cardiac single-nuclei RNA sequencing further suggested that AAV9-Vegfb treatment affects cardiac hypertrophy putatively via STAT3 which was validated in vitro. In conclusion, our data reveals that Vegfb overexpression partially reverses pathological alterations in the aging heart. Despite the overall improvement of the age-related cardiac phenotype, the AAV9-Vegfb-mediated induced cardiac hypertrophy which might reflect protective hypertrophy.

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Title Page Cardiac Gene Therapy Rescues Diabetic Cardiomyopathy and Lowers Blood Glucose

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