Higher mortality in heterozygous neuropilin-1 mice after cardiac pressure overload

We previously identified that neuropilin-1 (NP-1) was a co-receptor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) and confirmed that NP-1 knockout mice were embryonic lethal due to impairment of vascular development, while VEGF was reported to be involved in the progression of heart failure. However, it is unknown whether NP-1 has any influence on cardiac function, and it also remains poor understood concerning cardiac expression of NP-1 and its interaction with other VEGF receptors in the heart. Here, we first showed that NP-1 heterozygous mice had significantly higher mortality due to either acute or chronic heart failure in response to left ventricular pressure overload. We also observed that NP-1 mRNA and protein were expressed in both neonatal rat cardiomyocytes and adult murine heart. Furthermore, we found that NP-1 formed complexes with VEGFR1 and VEGFR2, respectively, in cardiomyocytes. These findings suggest that NP-1 should play beneficial role in heart failure.