Heidi Kvaløy

Cardiac O-GlcNAc signaling is increased in hypertrophy and heart failure.

Reversible protein O-GlcNAc modification has emerged as an essential intracellular signaling system in several tissues, including cardiovascular pathophysiology related to diabetes and acute ischemic stress. We tested the hypothesis that cardiac O-GlcNAc signaling is altered in chronic cardiac hypertrophy and failure of different etiologies. Global protein O-GlcNAcylation and the main enzymes regulating O-GlcNAc, O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT), O-GlcNAcase (OGA), and glutamine-fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase (GFAT) were measured by immunoblot and/or real-time RT-PCR analyses of left ventricular tissue from aortic stenosis (AS) patients and rat models of hypertension, myocardial infarction (MI), and aortic banding (AB), with and without failure. We show here that global O-GlcNAcylation was increased by 65% in AS patients, by 47% in hypertensive rats, by 81 and 58% post-AB, and 37 and 60% post-MI in hypertrophic and failing hearts, respectively (P < 0.05). Noticeably, protein O-GlcNAcylation patterns varied in hypertrophic vs. failing hearts, and the most extensive O-GlcNAcylation was observed on proteins of 20-100 kDa in size. OGT, OGA, and GFAT2 protein and/or mRNA levels were increased by pressure overload, while neither was regulated by myocardial infarction. Pharmacological inhibition of OGA decreased cardiac contractility in post-MI failing hearts, demonstrating a possible role of O-GlcNAcylation in development of chronic cardiac dysfunction. Our data support the novel concept that O-GlcNAc signaling is altered in various etiologies of cardiac hypertrophy and failure, including human aortic stenosis. This not only provides an exciting basis for discovery of new mechanisms underlying pathological cardiac remodeling but also implies protein O-GlcNAcylation as a possible new therapeutic target in heart failure.

Innate immune signaling induces expression and shedding of the heparan sulfate proteoglycan syndecan-4 in cardiac fibroblasts and myocytes, affecting inflammation in the pressure-overloaded heart.

Sustained pressure overload induces heart failure, the main cause of mortality in the Western world. Increased understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms is essential to improve heart failure treatment. Despite important functions in other tissues, cardiac proteoglycans have received little attention. Syndecan‐4, a transmembrane heparan sulfate proteoglycan, is essential for pathological remodeling, and we here investigated its expression and shedding during heart failure. Pressure overload induced by aortic banding for 24 h and 1 week in mice increased syndecan‐4 mRNA, which correlated with mRNA of inflammatory cytokines. In cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts, tumor necrosis factor‐α, interleukin‐1β and lipopolysaccharide through the toll‐like receptor‐4, induced syndecan‐4 mRNA. Bioinformatical and mutational analyses in HEK293 cells identified a functional site for the proinflammatory nuclear factor‐κB transcription factor in the syndecan‐4 promoter, and nuclear factor‐κB regulated syndecan‐4 mRNA in cardiac cells. Interestingly, tumor necrosis factor‐α, interleukin‐1β and lipopolysaccharide induced nuclear factor‐κB‐dependent shedding of the syndecan‐4 ectodomain from cardiac cells. Overexpression of syndecan‐4 with mutated enzyme‐interacting domains suggested enzyme‐dependent heparan sulfate chains to regulate shedding. In cardiac fibroblasts, lipopolysaccharide reduced focal adhesion assembly, shown by immunohistochemistry, suggesting that inflammation‐induced shedding affects function. After aortic banding, a time‐dependent cardiac recruitment of T lymphocytes was observed by measuring CD3, CD4 and CD8 mRNA, which was reduced in syndecan‐4 knockout hearts. Finally, syndecan‐4 mRNA and shedding were upregulated in failing human hearts. Conclusively, our data suggest that syndecan‐4 plays an important role in the immune response of the heart to increased pressure, influencing cardiac remodeling and failure progression.

A SUMO-regulated activation function controls synergy of c-Myb through a repressor-activator switch leading to differential p300 recruitment.

Synergy between transcription factors operating together on complex promoters is a key aspect of gene activation. The ability of specific factors to synergize is restricted by sumoylation (synergy control, SC). Focusing on the haematopoietic transcription factor c-Myb, we found evidence for a strong SC linked to SUMO-conjugation in its negative regulatory domain (NRD), while AMV v-Myb has escaped this control. Mechanistic studies revealed a SUMO-dependent switch in the function of NRD. When NRD is sumoylated, the activity of c-Myb is reduced. When sumoylation is abolished, NRD switches into being activating, providing the factor with a second activation function (AF). Thus, c-Myb harbours two AFs, one that is constitutively active and one in the NRD being SUMO-regulated (SRAF). This double AF augments c-Myb synergy at compound natural promoters. A similar SUMO-dependent switch was observed in the regulatory domains of Sp3 and p53. We show that the change in synergy behaviour correlates with a SUMO-dependent differential recruitment of p300 and a corresponding local change in histone H3 and H4 acetylation. We therefore propose a general model for SUMO-mediated SC, where SUMO controls synergy by determining the number and strength of AFs associated with a promoter leading to differential chromatin signatures.

Angiotensin II and norepinephrine activate specific calcineurin-dependent NFAT transcription factor isoforms in cardiomyocytes

Norepinephrine (NE) and angiotensin II (ANG II) are primary effectors of the sympathetic adrenergic and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone systems, mediating hypertrophic, apoptotic, and fibrotic events in the myocardium. As NE and ANG II have been shown to affect intracellular calcium in cardiomyocytes, we hypothesized that they activate the calcium-sensitive, prohypertrophic calcineurin-nuclear factor of activated T-cell (NFATc) signaling pathway. More specifically, we have investigated isoform-specific activation of NFAT in NE- and ANG II-stimulated cardiomyocytes, as it is likely that each of the four calcineurin-dependent isoforms, c1-c4, play specific roles. We have stimulated neonatal ventriculocytes from C57/B6 and NFAT-luciferase reporter mice with ANG II or NE and quantified NFAT activity by luciferase activity and phospho-immunoblotting. ANG II and NE increased calcineurin-dependent NFAT activity 2.4- and 1.9-fold, measured as luciferase activity after 24 h of stimulation, and induced protein synthesis, measured by radioactive leucine incorporation after 24 and 72 h. To optimize measurements of NFAT isoforms, we examined the specificity of NFAT antibodies on peptide arrays and by immunoblotting with designed blocking peptides. Western analyses showed that both effectors activate NFATc1 and c4, while NFATc2 activity was regulated by NE only, as measured by phospho-NFAT levels. Neither ANG II nor NE activated NFATc3. As todays main therapies for heart failure aim at antagonizing the adrenergic and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone systems, understanding their intracellular actions is of importance, and our data, through validating a method for measuring myocardial NFATs, indicate that ANG II and NE activate specific NFATc isoforms in cardiomyocytes.

Molecular Basis of Calpain Cleavage and Inactivation of the Sodium-Calcium Exchanger 1 in Heart Failure

Background: Sodium-calcium exchanger 1 (NCX1) and calpain are up-regulated in heart failure (HF). Molecular mechanisms and functional consequences of NCX1 cleavage by calpain are not known. Results: Calpain anchors to two NCX1 regions and cleaves at methionine-369, leading to inactivation. Conclusion: NCX1 inhibition by calpain might improve cardiac function. Significance: Calpain might play a pivotal role in NCX1 regulation during HF. Cardiac sodium (Na+)-calcium (Ca2+) exchanger 1 (NCX1) is central to the maintenance of normal Ca2+ homeostasis and contraction. Studies indicate that the Ca2+-activated protease calpain cleaves NCX1. We hypothesized that calpain is an important regulator of NCX1 in response to pressure overload and aimed to identify molecular mechanisms and functional consequences of calpain binding and cleavage of NCX1 in the heart. NCX1 full-length protein and a 75-kDa NCX1 fragment along with calpain were up-regulated in aortic stenosis patients and rats with heart failure. Patients with coronary artery disease and sham-operated rats were used as controls. Calpain co-localized, co-fractionated, and co-immunoprecipitated with NCX1 in rat cardiomyocytes and left ventricle lysate. Immunoprecipitations, pull-down experiments, and extensive use of peptide arrays indicated that calpain domain III anchored to the first Ca2+ binding domain in NCX1, whereas the calpain catalytic region bound to the catenin-like domain in NCX1. The use of bioinformatics, mutational analyses, a substrate competitor peptide, and a specific NCX1-Met369 antibody identified a novel calpain cleavage site at Met369. Engineering NCX1-Met369 into a tobacco etch virus protease cleavage site revealed that specific cleavage at Met369 inhibited NCX1 activity (both forward and reverse mode). Finally, a short peptide fragment containing the NCX1-Met369 cleavage site was modeled into the narrow active cleft of human calpain. Inhibition of NCX1 activity, such as we have observed here following calpain-induced NCX1 cleavage, might be beneficial in pathophysiological conditions where increased NCX1 activity contributes to cardiac dysfunction.

Shedding of syndecan-4 promotes immune cell recruitment and mitigates cardiac dysfunction after lipopolysaccharide challenge in mice

Inflammation is central to heart failure progression. Innate immune signaling increases expression of the transmembrane proteoglycan syndecan-4 in cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts, followed by shedding of its ectodomain. Circulating shed syndecan-4 is increased in heart failure patients, however the pathophysiological and molecular consequences associated with syndecan-4 shedding remain poorly understood. Here we used lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge to investigate the effects of syndecan-4 shedding in the heart. Wild-type mice (10mg/kg, 9h) and cultured neonatal rat cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts were subjected to LPS challenge. LPS increased cardiac syndecan-4 mRNA without altering full-length protein. Elevated levels of shedding fragments in the myocardium and blood from the heart confirmed syndecan-4 shedding in vivo. A parallel upregulation of ADAMTS1, ADAMTS4 and MMP9 mRNA suggested these shedding enzymes to be involved. Echocardiography revealed reduced ejection fraction, diastolic tissue velocity and prolonged QRS duration in mice unable to shed syndecan-4 (syndecan-4 KO) after LPS challenge. In line with syndecan-4 shedding promoting immune cell recruitment, expression of immune cell markers (CD8, CD11a, F4/80) and adhesion receptors (Icam1, Vcam1) were attenuated in syndecan-4 KO hearts after LPS. Cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts exposed to shed heparan sulfate-substituted syndecan-4 ectodomains showed increased Icam1, Vcam1, TNFα and IL-1β expression and NF-κB-activation, suggesting direct regulation of immune cell recruitment pathways. In cardiac fibroblasts, shed ectodomains regulated expression of extracellular matrix constituents associated with collagen synthesis, cross-linking and turnover. Higher syndecan-4 levels in the coronary sinus vs. the radial artery of open heart surgery patients suggested that syndecan-4 is shed from the human heart. Our data demonstrate that shedding of syndecan-4 ectodomains is part of the cardiac innate immune response, promoting immune cell recruitment, extracellular matrix remodeling and mitigating cardiac dysfunction in response to LPS.

Exercise training increases protein O-GlcNAcylation in rat skeletal muscle

Protein O‐GlcNAcylation has emerged as an important intracellular signaling system with both physiological and pathophysiological functions, but the role of protein O‐GlcNAcylation in skeletal muscle remains elusive. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that protein O‐GlcNAcylation is a dynamic signaling system in skeletal muscle in exercise and disease. Immunoblotting showed different protein O‐GlcNAcylation pattern in the prototypical slow twitch soleus muscle compared to fast twitch EDL from rats, with greater O‐GlcNAcylation level in soleus associated with higher expression of the modulating enzymes O‐GlcNAc transferase (OGT), O‐GlcNAcase (OGA), and glutamine fructose‐6‐phosphate amidotransferase isoforms 1 and 2 (GFAT1, GFAT2). Six weeks of exercise training by treadmill running, but not an acute exercise bout, increased protein O‐GlcNAcylation in rat soleus and EDL. There was a striking increase in O‐GlcNAcylation of cytoplasmic proteins ~50 kDa in size that judged from mass spectrometry analysis could represent O‐GlcNAcylation of one or more key metabolic enzymes. This suggests that cytoplasmic O‐GlcNAc signaling is part of the training response. In contrast to exercise training, postinfarction heart failure (HF) in rats and humans did not affect skeletal muscle O‐GlcNAcylation level, indicating that aberrant O‐GlcNAcylation cannot explain the skeletal muscle dysfunction in HF. Human skeletal muscle displayed extensive protein O‐GlcNAcylation that by large mirrored the fiber‐type‐related O‐GlcNAcylation pattern in rats, suggesting O‐GlcNAcylation as an important signaling system also in human skeletal muscle.