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Published on: May 24, 2024
Protease-activated receptor-1 contributes to cardiac remodeling and hypertrophy
Rafal Pawlinski1, Michael Tencati, Craig R Hampton
1The Scripps Research Institute, Department of Immunology, 10550 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Insights
Protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR-1) deficiency improves cardiac function after heart injury by reducing left ventricle dilation. However, PAR-1 deficiency did not affect infarct size, while its overexpression induced eccentric hypertrophy.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Biology
- Molecular Cardiology
- Thrombosis Research
Background:
- Protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR-1) is a receptor for thrombin, expressed in cardiac cells like cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts.
- PAR-1 signaling is implicated in cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and fibroblast proliferation.
- Tissue factor (TF) and thrombin are known contributors to cardiac ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of PAR-1 in cardiac infarction, remodeling, and hypertrophy following I/R injury.
- To analyze the effects of cardiomyocyte-specific PAR-1 overexpression on cardiac function and structure.
Main Methods:
- Utilized PAR-1 deficient (PAR-1-/-) and wild-type mice subjected to cardiac I/R injury.
- Investigated cardiac remodeling and function using echocardiography and histological analysis.
- Examined the impact of cardiomyocyte-specific PAR-1 overexpression and TF gene deletion.
Main Results:
- PAR-1 deficiency attenuated left ventricular dilation and improved cardiac function 2 weeks post-I/R injury.
- PAR-1 deficiency did not alter infarct size but increased ERK1/2 activation in injured areas.
- Cardiomyocyte-specific PAR-1 overexpression led to eccentric hypertrophy and dilated cardiomyopathy, which was reduced by deleting the TF gene in cardiomyocytes.
Conclusions:
- PAR-1 plays a significant role in cardiac remodeling and hypertrophy post-myocardial infarction.
- Overexpression of PAR-1 in cardiomyocytes induces eccentric hypertrophy, suggesting a mechanism for dilated cardiomyopathy.
- Targeting PAR-1 may offer a novel therapeutic strategy for reducing cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure after myocardial infarction.
Background:
Protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR-1) is the high-affinity receptor for the coagulation protease thrombin. It is expressed by a variety of cell types in the heart, including cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts. We have shown that tissue factor (TF) and thrombin contribute to infarct size after cardiac ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. Moreover, in vitro studies have shown that PAR-1 signaling induces hypertrophy of cardiomyocytes and proliferation of cardiac fibroblasts. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of PAR-1 in infarction, cardiac remodeling, and hypertrophy after I/R injury. In addition, we analyzed the effect of overexpression of PAR-1 on cardiomyocytes.
Methods And Results:
We found that PAR-1 deficiency reduced dilation of the left ventricle and reduced impairment of left ventricular function 2 weeks after I/R injury. Activation of ERK1/2 was increased in injured PAR-1(-/-) mice compared with wild-type mice; however, PAR-1 deficiency did not affect infarct size. Cardiomyocyte-specific overexpression of PAR-1 in mice induced eccentric hypertrophy (increased left ventricular dimension and normal left ventricular wall thickness) and dilated cardiomyopathy. Deletion of the TF gene in cardiomyocytes reduced the eccentric hypertrophy in mice overexpressing PAR-1.
Conclusions:
Our results demonstrate that PAR-1 contributes to cardiac remodeling and hypertrophy. Moreover, overexpression of PAR-1 on cardiomyocytes induced eccentric hypertrophy. Inhibition of PAR-1 after myocardial infarction may represent a novel therapy to reduce hypertrophy and heart failure in humans.
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