IL-17A promotes ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction

Inflammatory responses play an important role in the pathogenesis of adverse ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction (MI). We previously demonstrated that interleukin (IL)-17A plays a pathogenic role in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury and viral myocarditis. However, the role of IL-17A in post-MI remodeling and the related mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Acute MI was induced by permanent ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery in C57BL/6 mice. Repletion of IL-17A significantly aggravated both early- and late-phase ventricular remodeling, as demonstrated by increased infarct size, deteriorated cardiac function, increased myocardial fibrosis, and cardiomyocyte apoptosis. By contrast, genetic IL-17A deficiency had the opposite effect. Additional studies in vitro indicated that IL-17A induces neonatal cardiomyocyte (from C57BL/6 mice) apoptosis through the activation of p38, p53 phosphorylation, and Bax redistribution. These data demonstrate that IL-17A induces cardiomyocyte apoptosis through the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-p53-Bax signaling pathway and promotes both early- and late-phase post-MI ventricular remodeling. IL-17A might be an important target in preventing heart failure after MI. Key message: We demonstrated that IL-17A plays a pathogenic role both in the early and late stages of post-MI remodeling. IL-17A induces murine cardiomyocyte apoptosis. IL-17A induces murine cardiomyocyte apoptosis through the p38 MAPK-p53-Bax signaling pathway.