Erythrocyte calpain activity and left ventricular mass in essential hypertension

Down-Regulation of Calpain 9 is Linked to Hypertensive Heart and Kidney

Calpains are a family of 14 intracellular calcium-dependent proteases, which have been implicated in cardiovascular diseases. We aimed to analyze specifically the expressional regulation of the different calpain isoforms in hypertensive target organ damage. Using real-time PCR, we found calpain 6 and 9 down-regulated by more than 50% and the endogenous calpain inhibitor calpastatin up-regulated by 225%, respectively, in the hearts of Dahl salt-sensitive rats on a high salt (4% NaCl) compared to normal salt diet. On the protein level, calpain 9 but not calpastatin was regulated in the hypertensive target organs heart and kidney. Moreover, the myocardial expression of calpain 9 protein was inversely linked to left ventricular mass (r= -0.93, p<0.01), and renal expression of calpain 9 protein correlated inversely with albuminuria (r= -0.82, p<0.05). In the aorta, there was no regulation of calpain 9 on the protein level. We conclude that differential regulation of calpain 9 may play a role in hypertensive target organ damage.

Screening the proteins that interact with calpain in a human heart cDNA library using a yeast two-hybrid system

Calpain, a cytosolic cysteine protease, requires calcium ions for activity. It has been reported that calpain is involved in the degradation of myofibrillar and neurofilament proteins, and the activation of phosphorylase b kinase and protein kinase C. More recently, calpain was shown to participate in apoptosis. In order to understand the calpain-related signal transduction pathway and its changes during hypertrophy, and especially in hypertension, we screened a human heart cDNA library to find proteins that interact with calpain. 1) Using PCR we amplified the full-length, domain II, domain III and domain IV cDNA of calpain (calcium-activated neutral protease, CANP) I large subunit respectively. 2) Then the fragments were cloned into pGBKT7 vector, resulting in 4 bait expression constructs (pGBKT7-CANP, pGBKT7-CANP II, pGBKT7-CANP III, and pG BKT7-CANP IV). 3) After 4 bait vectors were transformed into AH109 by the lithium acetate-mediated method, AH109/pGBKT7-CANP, AH109/pGBKT7-CANP II, AH109/pGBKT7-CANP III, and AH109/pGBKT7-CANP IV were obtained, respectively. 4) After the human heart cDNA library was sequentially transformed into AH109/ pGBKT7-CANP, 1000-1200 positive clones were grown on SD/Trp-Leu-Ade-His-. Only 150 positive clones were obtained through a colony-lift filter assay to detect beta-galactosidase activity. 5) Total 105 clones among above 150 positive clones were eliminated through that the duplicate, pseudopositive and autoactive detection, respectively. 6) Finally, sequencing eliminated clones with a wrong open reading frame (ORF). Eight clones were cancelled with wrong ORF. The remaining 37 positive clones were analyzed using BLAST software available on the Internet and classified as follows: 1. enzymes or proteins related to signal transduction in the cell; 2. contraction proteins 3. matrix proteins 4. unknown proteins. 7) In order to determine which domain of the calpain I large subunit was involved in the interaction with these real clones, the 37 clones were transformed into AH109/pGBKT7-CANP II, AH109/pGBKT7-CANP III or AH109/pGBKT7-CANP IV. Among these 37 clones, 29 clones could interact with domain II, 5 clones could interact with domain III and 6 clones could interact with domain IV. Thus, we successfully constructed 4 bait expression vectors, pGBKT7-CANP, pGBKT7-CANP II, pGBKT7-CANP III and pGBKT7-CANP IV, and obtained 37 real positive clones that interacted with the calpain I large subunit by screening a human heart cDNA library using pGBKT7-CANP as bait. Among them, 29 clones could interact with domain II of the calpain I large subunit, where the active site of calpain is located. Additional studies will be needed to clarify the calpain-related signal transduction pathway in greater detail.