Abstract
Cardiac hypertrophy is an adaptive response to a variety of mechanical and hormonal stimuli, and represents an early event in the clinical course leading to heart failure. By gene inactivation, we demonstrate here a crucial role of melusin, a muscle-specific protein that interacts with the integrin β1 cytoplasmic domain, in the hypertrophic response to mechanical overload. Melusin-null mice showed normal cardiac structure and function in physiological conditions, but when subjected to pressure overload - a condition that induces a hypertrophic response in wild-type controls - they developed an abnormal cardiac remodeling that evolved into dilated cardiomyopathy and contractile dysfunction. In contrast, the hypertrophic response was identical in wild-type and melusin-null mice after chronic administration of angiotensin II or phenylephrine at doses that do not increase blood pressure - that is, in the absence of cardiac biomechanical stress. Analysis of intracellular signaling events induced by pressure overload indicated that phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) was specifically blunted in melusin-null hearts. Thus, melusin prevents cardiac dilation during chronic pressure overload by specifically sensing mechanical stress.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 68-75 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Nature Medicine |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jan 1 2003 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
- Medicine(all)