Cell cycle induction in human cardiomyocytes is dependent on biosynthetic pathway activation

The coordinated gene and metabolic programs that facilitate cardiomyocyte entry and progression in the cell cycle are poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to identify the metabolic changes that influence myocyte proliferation.

In adult mouse cardiomyocytes and human induced pluripotent stem cell cardiomyocytes (hiPS-CMs), cell cycle initiation by ectopic expression of Cyclin B1, Cyclin D1, CDK1, and CDK4 (termed 4F) downregulated oxidative phosphorylation genes and upregulated genes that regulate ancillary biosynthetic pathways of glucose metabolism. Results from metabolic analyses and stable isotope tracing experiments indicate that 4F-mediated cell cycle induction in hiPS-CMs decreases glucose oxidation and oxidative phosphorylation and augments NAD⁺, glycogen, hexosamine, phospholipid, and serine biosynthetic pathway activity. Interventions that diminish NAD⁺ synthesis, serine synthesis, or protein O-GlcNAcylation decreased 4F-mediated cell cycle entry. In a gain of function approach, we overexpressed phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 2 (PCK2), which can drive carbon from the Krebs cycle to the glycolytic intermediate pool, and found that PCK2 augments 4F-mediated cell cycle entry.

These findings suggest that a metabolic shift from catabolic to anabolic activity is a critical step for cardiomyocyte cell cycle entry and is required to facilitate proliferation.