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MicroRNAs: From Junk RNA to Life Regulators and Their Role in Cardiovascular Disease. CARDIOGENETICS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/cardiogenetics11040023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are single-stranded small non-coding RNA (18–25 nucleotides) that until a few years ago were considered junk RNA. In the last twenty years, they have acquired more importance thanks to the understanding of their influence on gene expression and their role as negative regulators at post-transcriptional level, influencing the stability of messenger RNA (mRNA). Approximately 5% of the genome encodes miRNAs which are responsible for regulating numerous signaling pathways, cellular processes and cell-to-cell communication. In the cardiovascular system, miRNAs control the functions of various cells, such as cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts, playing a role in physiological and pathological processes and seeming also related to variations in contractility and hereditary cardiomyopathies. They provide a new perspective on the pathophysiology of disorders such as hypertrophy, fibrosis, arrhythmia, inflammation and atherosclerosis. MiRNAs are differentially expressed in diseased tissue and can be released into the circulation and then detected. MiRNAs have become interesting for the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools for various diseases, including heart disease. In this review, the concept of miRNAs and their role in cardiomyopathies will be introduced, focusing on their potential as therapeutic and diagnostic targets (as biomarkers).
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Gerull B, Brodehl A. Genetic Animal Models for Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy. Front Physiol 2020; 11:624. [PMID: 32670084 PMCID: PMC7327121 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2020.00624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy has been clinically defined since the 1980s and causes right or biventricular cardiomyopathy associated with ventricular arrhythmia. Although it is a rare cardiac disease, it is responsible for a significant proportion of sudden cardiac deaths, especially in athletes. The majority of patients with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy carry one or more genetic variants in desmosomal genes. In the 1990s, several knockout mouse models of genes encoding for desmosomal proteins involved in cell-cell adhesion revealed for the first time embryonic lethality due to cardiac defects. Influenced by these initial discoveries in mice, arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy received an increasing interest in human cardiovascular genetics, leading to the discovery of mutations initially in desmosomal genes and later on in more than 25 different genes. Of note, even in the clinic, routine genetic diagnostics are important for risk prediction of patients and their relatives with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. Based on improvements in genetic animal engineering, different transgenic, knock-in, or cardiac-specific knockout animal models for desmosomal and nondesmosomal proteins have been generated, leading to important discoveries in this field. Here, we present an overview about the existing animal models of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy with a focus on the underlying pathomechanism and its importance for understanding of this disease. Prospectively, novel mechanistic insights gained from the whole animal, organ, tissue, cellular, and molecular levels will lead to the development of efficient personalized therapies for treatment of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brenda Gerull
- Comprehensive Heart Failure Center Wuerzburg, Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.,Department of Cardiac Sciences, Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Andreas Brodehl
- Erich and Hanna Klessmann Institute for Cardiovascular Research and Development, Heart and Diabetes Center NRW, University Hospitals of the Ruhr-University of Bochum, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany
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DeWitt ES, Chandler SF, Hylind RJ, Beausejour Ladouceur V, Blume ED, VanderPluym C, Powell AJ, Fynn-Thompson F, Roberts AE, Sanders SP, Bezzerides V, Lakdawala NK, MacRae CA, Abrams DJ. Phenotypic Manifestations of Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy in Children and Adolescents. J Am Coll Cardiol 2020; 74:346-358. [PMID: 31319917 DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2019.05.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2019] [Revised: 05/07/2019] [Accepted: 05/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is a variably penetrant disease increasingly identified in young patients. OBJECTIVES This study sought to describe the diverse phenotype, genotype, and outcomes in pediatric and adolescent patients. METHODS Records from 1999 to 2016 were reviewed for individuals age <21 years with a consistent personal or family history. Patients were categorized by right ventricular (RV), left dominant (LD), or biventricular subtypes using 2010 Task Force Criteria or proposed features of LD disease, encompassing electrocardiographic, structural, histological, and arrhythmic characteristics. Genetic variants classified as pathogenic and/or likely pathogenic by 2015 American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics criteria in recognized disease-associated genes were included. RESULTS Manifest disease was evident in 32 patients (age 15.1 ± 3.8 years), of whom 22 were probands, including 16 RV, 7 LD, and 9 biventricular ACM. Nondiagnostic features were seen in 5 of 15 family members. RV disease was associated with cardiac arrest and ventricular tachycardia (p = 0.02) and prevalence of PKP2 variants (p < 0.01), whereas biventricular disease was associated with a younger age of onset (p = 0.02). LD ACM was associated with variants in DSP and LMNA, and biventricular ACM with more a diverse etiology in desmosomal genes. Cardiac arrest was observed in 5 probands (age 15.3 ± 1.9 years) and ventricular tachycardia in 10 (age 16.6 ± 2.7 years), 6 probands, and 4 family members. Features suggestive of myocardial inflammation were seen in 6 patients, with ventricular tachycardia and/or cardiac arrest in 3 patients. Cardiac transplantation was performed in 10 patients. There were no deaths. In RV and biventricular disease, electrocardiographic preceded imaging features, whereas the reverse was seen in LD disease. CONCLUSIONS ACM in the young has highly varied phenotypic expression incorporating life-threatening arrhythmia, heart failure, and myocardial inflammation. Increased awareness of early onset, aggressive disease has important implications for patient management and familial screening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth S DeWitt
- Inherited Cardiac Arrhythmia Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Stephanie F Chandler
- Inherited Cardiac Arrhythmia Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Robyn J Hylind
- Inherited Cardiac Arrhythmia Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Virginie Beausejour Ladouceur
- Inherited Cardiac Arrhythmia Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Elizabeth D Blume
- Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Christina VanderPluym
- Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Andrew J Powell
- Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Francis Fynn-Thompson
- Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Amy E Roberts
- Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Stephen P Sanders
- Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Pathology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Vassilios Bezzerides
- Inherited Cardiac Arrhythmia Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Neal K Lakdawala
- Cardiovascular Genetics Program, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Calum A MacRae
- Cardiovascular Genetics Program, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Dominic J Abrams
- Inherited Cardiac Arrhythmia Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
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Abstract
Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy is a genetic disorder characterized by the risk of life-threatening arrhythmias, myocardial dysfunction and fibrofatty replacement of myocardial tissue. Mutations in genes that encode components of desmosomes, the adhesive junctions that connect cardiomyocytes, are the predominant cause of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy and can be identified in about half of patients with the condition. However, the molecular mechanisms leading to myocardial destruction, remodelling and arrhythmic predisposition remain poorly understood. Through the development of animal, induced pluripotent stem cell and other models of disease, advances in our understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy over the past decade have brought several signalling pathways into focus. These pathways include canonical and non-canonical WNT signalling, the Hippo-Yes-associated protein (YAP) pathway and transforming growth factor-β signalling. These studies have begun to identify potential therapeutic targets whose modulation has shown promise in preclinical models. In this Review, we summarize and discuss the reported molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy.
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Gaertner A, Schwientek P, Ellinghaus P, Summer H, Golz S, Kassner A, Schulz U, Gummert J, Milting H. Myocardial transcriptome analysis of human arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. Physiol Genomics 2011; 44:99-109. [PMID: 22085907 DOI: 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00094.2011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is an inherited cardiomyopathy primarily of the right ventricle characterized through fibrofatty replacement of cardiomyocytes. The genetic etiology in ARVC patients is most commonly caused by dominant inheritance and high genetic heterogeneity. Though histological examinations of ARVC-affected human myocardium reveals fibrolipomatous replacement, the molecular mechanisms leading to loss of cardiomyocytes are largely unknown. We therefore analyzed the transcriptomes of six ARVC hearts and compared our findings to six nonfailing donor hearts (NF). To characterize the ARVC-specific transcriptome, we compared our findings to samples from seven patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The myocardial DCM and ARVC samples were prepared from hearts explanted during an orthotopic heart transplantation representing myocardium from end-stage heart failure patients (NYHA IV). From each heart, left (LV) and right ventricular (RV) myocardial samples were analyzed by Affymetrix HG-U133 Plus 2.0 arrays, adding up to six sample groups. Unsupervised cluster analyses of the groups revealed a clear separation of NF and cardiomyopathy samples. However, in contrast to the other samples, the analyses revealed no distinct expression pattern in LV and RV of myocardial ARVC samples. We further identified differentially expressed transcripts using t-tests and found transcripts separating diseased and NF ventricular myocardium. Of note, in failing myocardium only ~15-16% of the genes are commonly regulated compared with NF samples. In addition both cardiomyopathies are clearly distinct on the transcriptome level. Comparison of the expression patterns between the failing RV and LV using a paired t-test revealed a lack of major differences between LV and RV gene expression in ARVC hearts. Our study is the first analysis of specific ARVC-related RV and LV gene expression patterns in terminal failing human hearts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Gaertner
- Herz- und Diabeteszentrum NRW, Universitätsklinikum der Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Klinik für Thorax- und Kardiovaskularchirurgie, Erich und Hanna Klessmann-Institut für Kardiovaskuläre Forschung und Entwicklung, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany
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