scholarly journals Evidence for the Role of Cell Reprogramming in Naturally Occurring Cardiac Repair

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nataliia V. Shults ◽  
Yuichiro J. Suzuki

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a fatal disease without a cure. If untreated, increased pulmonary vascular resistance kills patients within several years due to right heart failure. Even with the currently available therapies, survival durations remain short. By the time patients are diagnosed with this disease, the damage to the right ventricle (RV) has already developed. Therefore, agents that repair the damaged RV have therapeutic potential. We previously reported that cardiac fibrosis that occurs in the RV of adult Sprague–Dawley rats with PAH could naturally be reversed. We herein investigated the mechanism of this remarkable cardiac repair process. Counting of cardiomyocytes showed that the elimination of cardiac fibrosis is associated with the increased RV myocyte number, suggesting that new cardiomyocytes were generated. Immunohistochemistry showed the expression of α-smooth muscle actin and Sox-2 in RV myocytes of rats with PAH. Transmission electron microscopy detected the structure that resembles maturing cardiomyocytes in both the RV of PAH rats and cultured cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. We propose that the damaged RV in PAH can be repaired by activating the cell reprogramming mechanism that converts resident cardiac fibroblasts into induced cardiomyocytes.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nataliia V. Shults ◽  
Yuichiro J. Suzuki

AbstractPulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a fatal disease without a cure. If untreated, increased pulmonary vascular resistance kills patients within several years due to right heart failure. Even with the currently available therapies, survival durations remain short. By the time patients are diagnosed with this disease, the damage to the right ventricle (RV) has already developed. Therefore, agents that repair the damaged RV have therapeutic potential. We previously reported that cardiac fibrosis that occurs in the RV of adult Sprague-Dawley rats with PAH could naturally be reversed. We herein investigated the mechanism of this remarkable cardiac repair process. Counting of cardiomyocytes showed that the elimination of cardiac fibrosis is associated with the increased RV myocyte number, suggesting that new cardiomyocytes were generated. Immunohistochemistry showed the expression of α-smooth muscle actin and Sox-2 in RV myocytes of rats with PAH. Transmission electron microscopy detected the structure that resembles maturing cardiomyocytes in both the RV of PAH rats and cultured cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. We propose that the damaged RV in PAH can be repaired by activating the cell reprogramming mechanism that converts resident cardiac fibroblasts into induced cardiomyocytes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 1861
Author(s):  
Jemima Seidenberg ◽  
Mara Stellato ◽  
Amela Hukara ◽  
Burkhard Ludewig ◽  
Karin Klingel ◽  
...  

Background: Pathological activation of cardiac fibroblasts is a key step in development and progression of cardiac fibrosis and heart failure. This process has been associated with enhanced autophagocytosis, but molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Methods and Results: Immunohistochemical analysis of endomyocardial biopsies showed increased activation of autophagy in fibrotic hearts of patients with inflammatory cardiomyopathy. In vitro experiments using mouse and human cardiac fibroblasts confirmed that blockade of autophagy with Bafilomycin A1 inhibited fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition induced by transforming growth factor (TGF)-β. Next, we observed that cardiac fibroblasts obtained from mice overexpressing transcription factor Fos-related antigen 2 (Fosl-2tg) expressed elevated protein levels of autophagy markers: the lipid modified form of microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3B (LC3BII), Beclin-1 and autophagy related 5 (Atg5). In complementary experiments, silencing of Fosl-2 with antisense GapmeR oligonucleotides suppressed production of type I collagen, myofibroblast marker alpha smooth muscle actin and autophagy marker Beclin-1 in cardiac fibroblasts. On the other hand, silencing of either LC3B or Beclin-1 reduced Fosl-2 levels in TGF-β-activated, but not in unstimulated cells. Using a cardiac hypertrophy model induced by continuous infusion of angiotensin II with osmotic minipumps, we confirmed that mice lacking either Fosl-2 (Ccl19CreFosl2flox/flox) or Atg5 (Ccl19CreAtg5flox/flox) in stromal cells were protected from cardiac fibrosis. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that Fosl-2 regulates autophagocytosis and the TGF-β-Fosl-2-autophagy axis controls differentiation of cardiac fibroblasts. These data provide a new insight for the development of pharmaceutical targets in cardiac fibrosis.


Planta Medica ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 84 (02) ◽  
pp. 91-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Xiao ◽  
Wei Chang ◽  
Qing-Qing Wu ◽  
Xiao-Han Jiang ◽  
Ming-Xia Duan ◽  
...  

AbstractFibrosis is a key feature of various cardiovascular diseases and compromises cardiac systolic and diastolic performance. The lack of effective anti-fibrosis drugs is a major contributor to the increasing prevalence of heart failure. The present study was performed to investigate whether the iridoid aucubin alleviates cardiac fibroblast activation and its underlying mechanisms. Neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts were incubated with aucubin (1, 10, 20, 50 µM) followed by transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1, 10 ng/mL) stimulation for 24 h. Fibrosis proliferation was measured by cell counting kit-8 assay. The differentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts was determined by measuring the expression of α-smooth muscle actin. Then, the expressions levels of cardiac fibrosis-related proteins in myofibroblasts were analyzed by western blot and real-time PCR to confirm the anti-fibrosis effect of aucubin. As a result, aucubin suppressed TGFβ1-induced proliferation in fibroblasts and inhibited the TGFβ1-induced activation of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts. In addition, aucubin further attenuated fibrosis-related protein expression in myofibroblasts. Furthermore, this protective effect was related to increased adenosine 5′-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation and decreased mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) phosphorylation, which was confirmed by an mTOR inhibitor (rapamycin), an AMPK agonist (AICAR) and an AMPKα inhibitor compound C. Collectively, our findings suggest that aucubin protects against TGFβ1-induced fibroblast proliferation, activation and function by regulating the AMPKα/mTOR signal axis.


Hypertension ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 68 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca L Perrucci ◽  
Maria Corlian!ò ◽  
Delfina Tosi ◽  
Patrizia Nigro ◽  
Gaetano Bulfamante ◽  
...  

Objectives: In cardiac fibrosis associated with hypertension, TGF-beta1 plays a key role by acting on differentiation of cardiac fibroblasts (CF) into alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA)-positive myofibroblasts. In this study, we tested the effect of TGF-beta1 during the myofibroblast differentiation process of CF from normotensive and hypertensive rats. Methods: CF were obtained by enzymatic digestion of hearts isolated from Spontaneously Hypertensive (hCF) and normotensive Wistar Kyoto (nCF) rats (n=5 rat/group). Gene and protein expression in CF was evaluated by Western blot and qRT-PCR analyses, respectively. Immunohistochemistry analysis for integrin alpha-v beta-5 was performed on rat cardiac tissue (n=5 rat/group). Results: Cultured hCF showed an enhanced SMAD2/3 activation and alpha-SMA protein expression after treatment with TGF-beta1 (5 ng/ml) in comparison with nCF. Alpha-SMA up-regulation was further confirmed by qRT-PCR analysis that showed a significant increase in alpha-SMA gene expression in hCF after TGF-beta1 treatment (2.78±0.25 vs 2.01±0.21 fold increase, p <0.05). Moreover, immunostaining on cardiac tissues revealed a higher expression of integrin alpha-v beta-5 in hypertensive vs normotensive rat hearts (345.3±170.0 vs 48.2±22.3 mm 2 of integrin-positive area, p <0.05). This result was also confirmed in vitro ; indeed, integrin alpha-v beta-5 gene expression in hCF increased 2.8-fold in basal condition and 5.12-fold after TGF-beta1 treatment when compared to untreated nCF. Conclusions: Taken together, these results suggest that hCF are more prone to upregulate integrin alpha-v beta-5 and consequently differentiate into myofibroblasts in vitro under TGF-beta1 treatment. Thus, targeting alpha-v beta-5 might open a novel prospective for the treatment of fibrosis in hypertensive hearts likely reducing integrin-mediated TGF-beta1 activation.


Author(s):  
Dong Mei Xie ◽  
Yang Chen ◽  
Yan Liao ◽  
Wanwen Lin ◽  
Gang Dai ◽  
...  

Objective: Many tissues contained resident mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) that facilitated tissue hemostasis and repair. However, there is no typical marker to identify the resident cardiac MSCs. We aimed to determine if CD51 could be an optimal marker of cardiac MSCs and assess their therapeutic potential for mice with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).Methods: Cardiac-derived CD51+CD31–CD45–Ter119– cells (named CD51+cMSCs) were isolated from C57BL/6 mice(7-day-old) by flow cytometry. The CD51+cMSCs were characterized by proliferation capacity, multi-differentiation potential, and expression of typical MSC-related markers. Adult C57BL/6 mice (12-week-old) were utilized for an AMI model via permanently ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery. The therapeutic efficacy of CD51+cMSCs was estimated by echocardiography and pathological staining. To determine the underlying mechanism, lentiviruses were utilized to knock down gene (stem cell factor [SCF]) expression of CD51+cMSCs.Results: In this study, CD51 was expressed in the entire layers of the cardiac wall in mice, including endocardium, epicardium, and myocardium, and its expression was decreased with age. Importantly, the CD51+cMSCs possessed potent self-renewal potential and multi-lineage differentiation capacity in vitro and also expressed typical MSC-related surface proteins. Furthermore, CD51+cMSC transplantation significantly improved cardiac function and attenuated cardiac fibrosis through pro-angiogenesis activity after myocardial infarction in mice. Moreover, SCF secreted by CD51+cMSCs played an important role in angiogenesis both in vivo and in vitro.Conclusions: Collectively, CD51 is a novel marker of cardiac resident MSCs, and CD51+cMSC therapy enhances cardiac repair at least partly through SCF-mediated angiogenesis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 127 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Sook Kim ◽  
Hyang Hee Cho ◽  
Ju Hee Jun ◽  
Dong Im Cho ◽  
Meeyoung Cho ◽  
...  

Background: Inhibitor of NF-κB kinase (IKK), an upstream of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), is a critical modulator for pathophysiological inflammation. IKKε is a non-classical IKK and has been studied in infectious diseases and cancers. However, the role of IKKε in a myocardial infarction (MI) has not been addressed. Methods and Results: In this study, we used IKKε knockout (KO) mice to induce MI by coronary artery ligation. The IKKε KO group showed poor early survival rate, large cardiac fibrosis (14.7±4.8% in KO vs. 31.1±10.2% in WT, p <0.05), and low fractional shortening (13.47±1.21% in KO vs. 16.36±4.46% in WT, p <0.05) compared with WT group. Next, we investigated the inflammatory responses and found that inflammatory markers such as inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and CD80 were much higher in both cardiac macrophages and bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) in the IKKε KO group than in the wild type (WT) group. To explore the responsible mediator, we performed phosphorylated protein array and found phosphorylated p38 was significantly downregulated in the IKKε knockout BMDM. Conversely, both knockdown of p38 by siRNA and inhibition of p38 by SB203580 treatment in RAW264.7 cells upregulated iNOS. More interestingly, IKKε deficient cardiac fibroblasts showed highly accumulated nuclear p53 and exhibited immature differentiation. The levels of myofibroblast markers containing α-smooth muscle actin, periostin, and transforming growth factor-β1 were lower, and functional contractility was substantially impaired in the cardiac fibroblasts isolated from IKKε KO mice. Conclusion: Our data showed excessive inflammation was associated with p38 inactivation in macrophages and pathological fibrosis was resulted from immature myofibroblast phenotype with p53 upregulation. Collectively, IKKε is involved in the control of inflammation resolution and wound healing process in the infarcted myocardium.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Czubryt

Fibrosis occurs when the synthesis of extracellular matrix outpaces its degradation, and over time can negatively impact tissue and organ function. In the case of cardiac fibrosis, contraction and relaxation of the heart can be impaired to the point of precipitating heart failure, while at the same time fibrosis can result in arrhythmias due to altered electrical properties of the myocardium. The critical event in the evolution of cardiac fibrosis is the phenotype conversion of cardiac fibroblasts to their overly-active counterparts, myofibroblasts: cells demarked by their expression of novel markers such as periostin, by their gain of contractile activity, and by their pronounced and prolonged increase in the production of extracellular matrix components such as collagens. The phenotype change is dramatic, and can be triggered by many stimuli, including mechanical force, inflammatory cytokines, and growth factors. This review will explore fibroblast to myofibroblast transition mechanisms and will consider the therapeutic potential of targeting this process as a means to arrest or even reverse cardiac fibrosis.


Cardiology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Tao ◽  
Jing-Jing Yang ◽  
Wei Hu ◽  
Kai-Hu Shi ◽  
Jun Li

Objectives: Cardiac fibrosis is characterized by net accumulation of extracellular matrix proteins in the cardiac interstitium, and contributes to both systolic and diastolic dysfunction in many cardiac pathophysiologic conditions. HDAC6 is a transcriptional regulator of the histone deacetylase family, subfamily 2. Previous studies have shown that HDAC6 plays critical roles in transcription regulation and proliferation events. However, the precise mechanisms of how HDAC is associated with cardiac fibrosis progression have not yet been elucidated. Methods: Fifty adult male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into two groups. Cardiac fibrosis was produced by common isoprenaline and cardiac fibroblasts were harvested from SD neonate rats and cultured. The expression of HDAC6, RASSF1A, α-SMA and collagen I were measured by Western blotting and qRT-PCR. Small interfering (si)RNA of HDAC6 affects the proliferation of cardiac fibroblasts and the regulation of RASSF1A/ERK1/2 signaling pathways. Results: In this study, we found that mRNA and protein levels of HDAC6 were upregulated in cardiac fibrosis tissues and activated cardiac fibroblast cells. Inhibition of HDAC6 by siRNA or the inhibitor tubacin attenuated the TGF-β1-induced myofibroblast markers. In contrast, HDAC6 knockdown using siRNA inhibited cardiac fibroblast cell proliferation. Furthermore, we demonstrated that knockdown of HDAC6 elevated RASSF1A expression in activated cardiac fibroblasts, and treatment of cardiac fibroblasts with the HDAC6 inhibitor tubacin also elevated RASSF1A expression. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that a previously unknown mechanism of HDAC6 inactivation of RASSF1A controls cardiac fibroblast proliferation and fibrosis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangmi Ock ◽  
Woojin Ham ◽  
Chae Won Kang ◽  
Hyun Kang ◽  
Wang Soo Lee ◽  
...  

AbstractThe insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) signaling in cardiomyocytes is implicated in physiological hypertrophy and myocardial aging. Although fibroblasts account for a small amount of the heart, they are activated when the heart is damaged to promote cardiac remodeling. However, the role of IGF-1R signaling in cardiac fibroblasts is still unknown. In this study, we investigated the roles of IGF-1 signaling during agonist-induced cardiac fibrosis and evaluated the molecular mechanisms in cultured cardiac fibroblasts. Using an experimental model of cardiac fibrosis with angiotensin II/phenylephrine (AngII/PE) infusion, we found severe interstitial fibrosis in the AngII/PE infused myofibroblast-specific IGF-1R knockout mice compared to the wild-type mice. In contrast, low-dose IGF-1 infusion markedly attenuated AngII-induced cardiac fibrosis by inhibiting fibroblast proliferation and differentiation. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that IGF-1-attenuated AngII-induced cardiac fibrosis through the Akt pathway and through suppression of rho-associated coiled-coil containing kinases (ROCK)2-mediated α-smooth muscle actin (αSMA) expression. Our study highlights a novel function of the IGF-1/IGF-1R signaling in agonist-induced cardiac fibrosis. We propose that low-dose IGF-1 may be an efficacious therapeutic avenue against cardiac fibrosis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R Tikhomirov ◽  
B Reilly-O'donnell ◽  
C Lucarelli ◽  
S Greco ◽  
G Zacagnini ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cardiac fibrosis is associated with inflammation and extracellular matrix (ECM) accumulation. A pro-fibrotic cytokine, IL11 induces cardiac fibroblasts conversion to myofibroblasts expressing α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and ECM. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs which participate in regulation of gene expression; Although mainly intracellular, miRNAs can be released into the blood stream where they can be readily detected. Purpose To screen miRNAs upregulated following IL11 triggered conversion of rat cardiac fibroblasts into myofibroblasts. To validate these miRNAs as potential diagnostic biomarkers of cardiac fibrosis by testing their level in blood plasma and septum of aortic valve stenosis (AVS) patients. Methods and results With a bioinformatical approach (Figure 1), we predicted miRNAs which can target proteins involved in TGFβ and IL-11 pathways of fibrosis progression. Of a vast number of miRNAs, we identified 7 strong candidates. After qPCR validation, we found miRNA-27b-5p and miRNA-497 to be significantly upregulated in rat cardiac fibroblasts treated by IL11 (5 ng/ul) but not TGFβ1 (100 ng/ul), values are 2–ΔΔCt: (3±1.5) and (5.2±2.2) (p-value &lt;0.05) for miRNA-27b-5p and miRNA-497 respectively. Next, we overexpressed these two miRNAs separately in rat cardiac fibroblasts. With immunostaining we observed a (18.3±6.8)% increase in the percentage of α-SMA positive cells for miR-27b-5p and a (38.0±8.3)% increase for miR-497. Moreover, we detected with qPCR a significant up-regulation of α-SMA expression (−ΔΔCt = 3.4±0.9 for miR-27b-5p; −ΔΔCt = 8.2±0.7 for miR-497) in cells overexpressing miRNA27b-5p and miRNA497. Furthermore, we found that levels of both miRNA-27b-5p and miRNA-497 were significantly higher in blood plasma (p=0.0002, p=0.04) of AVS patients compared to age and sex matched control group of healthy donors (Figure 2) and heart septum (p=0.0004, p=0.04) of AVS patients compared to septum of healthy donors that could not be used for transplantation. In addition, quantification of Sirius red staining and immunohistochemistry for Col1a1 displayed significant ECM accumulation in AVS patients (p=0.04). Conclusions We found miRNA-497 and miRNA-27b-5p to be pro-fibrotic in rat fibroblasts. Importantly, we found both miRNAs to be up-regulated in the peripheral blood of AVS patients. FUNDunding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: Other. Main funding source(s): Roman Tikhomirov PhD studentship is supported by a fellowship from the University of Verona, ItalyEEU-Cardiac RNA cost action CA17129


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