GATA-4 is an angiogenic survival factor of the infarcted heart

Recent data suggest that GATA-4 is an antiapoptotic factor required for adaptive responses and a key regulator of hypertrophy and hypertrophy-associated genes in the heart. As a leading cause of chronic heart failure, reversal of postinfarction left ventricular remodeling represents an important target for therapeutic interventions. Here, we studied the role of GATA-4 as a mediator of postinfarction remodeling in rats.

Myocardial infarction, caused by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery, significantly decreased the DNA binding activity of GATA-4 at day 1, whereas at 2 weeks the GATA-4 DNA binding was significantly upregulated. To determine the functional role of GATA-4, peri-infarct intramyocardial delivery of adenoviral vector expressing GATA-4 was done before left anterior descending coronary artery ligation. Hearts treated with GATA-4 gene transfer exhibited significantly increased ejection fraction and fractional shortening. Accordingly, infarct size was significantly reduced. To determine the cardioprotective mechanisms of GATA-4, myocardial angiogenesis, rate of apoptosis, c-kit+ cardiac stemlike cells, and genes regulated by GATA-4 were studied. The number of capillaries and stemlike cells was significantly increased, and decreased apoptosis was observed.

These results indicate that the reversal of reduced GATA-4 activity prevents adverse postinfarction remodeling through myocardial angiogenesis, antiapoptosis, and stem cell recruitment. GATA-4-based gene transfer may represent a novel, efficient therapeutic approach for heart failure.