Foxm1 regulates cardiomyocyte proliferation in adult zebrafish after cardiac injury

Amniotic membrane, a novel bioscaffold in cardiac diseases: from mechanism to applications

Cardiovascular diseases represent one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Despite significant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of these diseases, numerous challenges remain in managing them. One of these challenges is the need for replacements for damaged cardiac tissues that can restore the normal function of the heart. Amniotic membrane, as a biological scaffold with unique properties, has attracted the attention of many researchers in recent years. This membrane, extracted from the human placenta, contains growth factors, cytokines, and other biomolecules that play a crucial role in tissue repair. Its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and wound-healing properties have made amniotic membrane a promising option for the treatment of heart diseases. This review article examines the applications of amniotic membrane in cardiovascular diseases. By focusing on the mechanisms of action of this biological scaffold and the results of clinical studies, an attempt will be made to evaluate the potential of using amniotic membrane in the treatment of heart diseases. Additionally, the existing challenges and future prospects in this field will be discussed.

Cited4a limits cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation and proliferation during zebrafish heart regeneration

Cardiac regeneration involves the interplay of complex interactions between many different cell types, including cardiomyocytes. The exact mechanism that enables cardiomyocytes to undergo dedifferentiation and proliferation to replace lost cells has been intensely studied. Here we report a single nuclear RNA sequencing profile of the injured zebrafish heart and identify distinct cardiomyocyte populations in the injured heart. These cardiomyocyte populations have diverse functions, including stress response, myofibril assembly, proliferation and contraction. The contracting cardiomyocyte population also involves the activation of maturation pathways as an early response to injury. This intriguing finding suggests that constant maintenance of a distinctive terminally differentiated cardiomyocyte population is important for cardiac function during regeneration. To test this hypothesis, we determined that cited4a, a p300/CBP transcriptional coactivator, is induced after injury in the mature cardiomyocyte population. Moreover, loss-of-cited4a mutants presented increased dedifferentiation, proliferation and accelerated heart regeneration. Thus, suppressing cardiomyocyte maturation pathway activity in injured hearts could be an approach to promote heart regeneration.

CUT&Tag applied to zebrafish adult tail fins reveals a return of embryonic H3K4me3 patterns during regeneration

Regenerative potential is governed by a complex process of transcriptional reprogramming, involving chromatin reorganization and dynamics in transcription factor binding patterns throughout the genome. The degree to which chromatin and epigenetic changes contribute to this process remains only partially understood. Here we provide a modified CUT&Tag protocol suitable for improved characterization and interrogation of changes in chromatin modifications during adult fin regeneration in zebrafish. Our protocol generates data that recapitulates results from previously published ChIP-Seq methods, requires far fewer cells as input, and significantly improves signal to noise ratios. We deliver high-resolution enrichment maps for H3K4me3 of uninjured and regenerating fin tissues. During regeneration, we find that H3K4me3 levels increase over gene promoters which become transcriptionally active and genes which lose H3K4me3 become silenced. Interestingly, these reprogramming events recapitulate the H3K4me3 patterns observed in developing fin folds of 24-h old zebrafish embryos. Our results indicate that changes in genomic H3K4me3 patterns during fin regeneration occur in a manner consistent with reactivation of developmental programs, demonstrating CUT&Tag to be an effective tool for profiling chromatin landscapes in regenerating tissues.

P53 Activation Promotes Maturational Characteristics of Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes in 3-Dimensional Suspension Culture Via FOXO-FOXM1 Regulation

BACKGROUND

Current protocols generate highly pure human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) in vitro that recapitulate characteristics of mature in vivo cardiomyocytes. Yet, a risk of arrhythmias exists when hiPSC-CMs are injected into large animal models. Thus, understanding hiPSC-CM maturational mechanisms is crucial for clinical translation. Forkhead box (FOX) transcription factors regulate postnatal cardiomyocyte maturation through a balance between FOXO and FOXM1. We also previously demonstrated that p53 activation enhances hiPSC-CM maturation. Here, we investigate whether p53 activation modulates the FOXO/FOXM1 balance to promote hiPSC-CM maturation in 3-dimensional suspension culture.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Three-dimensional cultures of hiPSC-CMs were treated with Nutlin-3a (p53 activator, 10 μM), LOM612 (FOXO relocator, 5 μM), AS1842856 (FOXO inhibitor, 1 μM), or RCM-1 (FOXM1 inhibitor, 1 μM), starting 2 days after onset of beating, with dimethyl sulfoxide (0.2% vehicle) as control. P53 activation promoted hiPSC-CM metabolic and electrophysiological maturation alongside FOXO upregulation and FOXM1 downregulation, in n=3 to 6 per group for all assays. FOXO inhibition significantly decreased expression of cardiac-specific markers such as TNNT2. In contrast, FOXO activation or FOXM1 inhibition promoted maturational characteristics such as increased contractility, oxygen consumption, and voltage peak maximum upstroke velocity, in n=3 to 6 per group for all assays. Further, by single-cell RNA sequencing of n=2 LOM612-treated cells compared with dimethyl sulfoxide, LOM612-mediated FOXO activation promoted expression of cardiac maturational pathways.

CONCLUSIONS

We show that p53 activation promotes FOXO and suppresses FOXM1 during 3-dimensional hiPSC-CM maturation. These results expand our understanding of hiPSC-CM maturational mechanisms in a clinically-relevant 3-dimensional culture system.

CUT&Tag Applied to Zebrafish Adult Tail Fins Reveals a Return of Embryonic H3K4me3 Patterns During Regeneration

Regenerative potential is governed by a complex process of transcriptional reprogramming, involving chromatin reorganization and dynamics in transcription factor binding patterns throughout the genome. The degree to which chromatin and epigenetic changes contribute to this process remains partially understood. Here we provide a modified CUT&Tag protocol suitable for improved characterization and interrogation of epigenetic changes during adult fin regeneration in zebrafish. Our protocol generates data that recapitulates results from previously published ChIP-Seq methods, requires far fewer cells as input, and significantly improves signal to noise ratios. We deliver high-resolution enrichment maps for H3K4me3 of uninjured and regenerating fin tissues. During regeneration, we find that H3K4me3 levels increase over gene promoters which become transcriptionally active and genes which lose H3K4me3 become silenced. Interestingly, these epigenetic reprogramming events recapitulate the H3K4me3 patterns observed in developing fin folds of 24-hour old zebrafish embryos. Our results indicate that changes in genomic H3K4me3 patterns during fin regeneration occur in a manner consistent with reactivation of developmental programs, demonstrating CUT&Tag to be an effective tool for profiling chromatin landscapes in regenerating tissues.

Promoting cardiomyocyte proliferation for myocardial regeneration in large mammals

From molecular and cellular perspectives, heart failure is caused by the loss of cardiomyocytes-the fundamental contractile units of the heart. Because mammalian cardiomyocytes exit the cell cycle shortly after birth, the cardiomyocyte damage induced by myocardial infarction (MI) typically leads to dilatation of the left ventricle (LV) and often progresses to heart failure. However, recent findings indicate that the hearts of neonatal pigs completely regenerated the cardiomyocytes that were lost to MI when the injury occurred on postnatal day 1 (P1). This recovery was accompanied by increases in the expression of markers for cell-cycle activity in cardiomyocytes. These results suggest that the repair process was driven by cardiomyocyte proliferation. This review summarizes findings from recent studies that found evidence of cardiomyocyte proliferation in 1) the uninjured hearts of newborn pigs on P1, 2) neonatal pig hearts after myocardial injury on P1, and 3) the hearts of pigs that underwent apical resection surgery (AR) on P1 followed by MI on postnatal day 28 (P28). Analyses of cardiomyocyte single-nucleus RNA sequencing data collected from the hearts of animals in these three experimental groups, their corresponding control groups, and fetal pigs suggested that although the check-point regulators and other molecules that direct cardiomyocyte cell-cycle progression and proliferation in fetal, newborn, and postnatal pigs were identical, the mechanisms that activated cardiomyocyte proliferation in response to injury may differ from those that regulate cardiomyocyte proliferation during development.

β-Sitosterol suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma growth and metastasis via FOXM1-regulated Wnt/β-catenin pathway

β-Sitosterol is a natural compound with demonstrated anti-cancer properties against various cancers. However, its effects on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. This study aims to investigate the impact of β-sitosterol on HCC. In this study, we investigated the effects of β-sitosterol on HCC tumour growth and metastasis using a xenograft mouse model and a range of molecular analyses, including bioinformatics, real-time PCR, western blotting, lentivirus transfection, CCK8, scratch and transwell assays. The results found that β-sitosterol significantly inhibits HepG2 cell proliferation, migration and invasion both in vitro and in vivo. Bioinformatics analysis identifies forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) as a potential target for β-sitosterol in HCC treatment. FOXM1 is upregulated in HCC tissues and cell lines, correlating with poor prognosis in patients. β-Sitosterol downregulates FOXM1 expression in vitro and in vivo. FOXM1 overexpression mitigates β-sitosterol's inhibitory effects on HepG2 cells. Additionally, β-sitosterol suppresses epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in HepG2 cells, while FOXM1 overexpression promotes EMT. Mechanistically, β-sitosterol inhibits Wnt/β-catenin signalling by downregulating FOXM1, regulating target gene transcription related to HepG2 cell proliferation and metastasis. β-Sitosterol shows promising potential as a therapeutic candidate for inhibiting HCC growth and metastasis through FOXM1 downregulation and Wnt/β-catenin signalling inhibition.

Role of transcription factor FOXM1 in diabetes and its complications (Review)

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease commonly associated with complications such as cardiovascular disease, nephropathy and neuropathy, the incidence of which is increasing yearly. Transcription factor forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) serves an important role in development of diabetes and its complications. The present study aimed to review the association between FOXM1 with pathogenesis of diabetes and its complications. FOXM1 may be involved in development and progression of diabetes and its complications by regulating cell biological processes such as cell cycle, DNA damage repair, cell differentiation and epithelial‑mesenchymal transition. FOXM1 is involved in regulation of insulin secretion and insulin resistance, and FOXM1 affects insulin secretion by regulating expression of insulin‑related genes and signaling pathways; FOXM1 is involved in the inflammatory response in diabetes, and FOXM1 can regulate key genes associated with inflammatory response and immune cells, which in turn affects occurrence and development of the inflammatory response; finally, FOXM1 is involved in the regulation of diabetic complications such as cardiovascular disease, nephropathy and neuropathy. In summary, the transcription factor FOXM1 serves an important role in development of diabetes and its complications. Future studies should explore the mechanism of FOXM1 in diabetes and find new targets of FOXM1 as a potential treatment for diabetes and its complications.

Comparative Analysis of Heart Regeneration: Searching for the Key to Heal the Heart-Part II: Molecular Mechanisms of Cardiac Regeneration

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide, among which ischemic heart disease is the most representative. Myocardial infarction results from occlusion of a coronary artery, which leads to an insufficient blood supply to the myocardium. As it is well known, the massive loss of cardiomyocytes cannot be solved due the limited regenerative ability of the adult mammalian hearts. In contrast, some lower vertebrate species can regenerate the heart after an injury; their study has disclosed some of the involved cell types, molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways during the regenerative process. In this 'two parts' review, we discuss the current state-of-the-art of the main response to achieve heart regeneration, where several processes are involved and essential for cardiac regeneration.