Abstract 88: Cardiac-specific Deletion of Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase 1B Exacerbates Pressure Overload-induced Hypertrophy and Heart Failure in Mice

Abstract

Cardiac hypertrophy involves the re-expression of a foetal gene program that occurs when cardiomyocytes are continuously exposed to stresses. The enlargement initially improves cardiac function, however, this compensatory hypertrophy predisposes individuals to arrhythmias, pathological hypertrophy and heart failure. Given the importance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the transition from cardiac hypertrophy to heart failure and the documented inhibition of PTPs by ROS, we hypothesized and explored whether specific PTPs could act as checkpoints in this process. We have identified PTP1B as a target of ROS in hearts undergoing hypertrophy. To better understand the role of PTP1B inhibition in cardiac hypertrophy, we generated cardiomyocyte-specific PTP1B knockout (PTP1B cKO) mice. Subjecting PTP1B cKO mice to pressure overload (PO) caused a dramatic left ventricular dilation and several distinctive features of heart failure when compared to control mice subjected to PO for the same period. Characterization of the mRNAs expressed in the hypertrophy-associated foetal gene program revealed that although PO led to increased mRNA levels of ANF and BNP, the increased expression of β-MHC observed in control mice subjected to PO was compromised in PTP1B cKO-PO mice. Since PTP1B inactivation can lead to the inactivation of AGO2 and compromise miRNA-mediated mRNAs repression, we investigated whether PTP1B regulated AGO2 phosphorylation and association with mRNAs in this context. We observed that AGO2 phosphotyrosine-393 levels were elevated and that AGO2 was a substrate of PTP1B in myocytes and in hearts undergoing hypertrophy. We also found changes in AGO2-mRNA associations between control- and PTP1B cKO-PO hearts and identified MED13 as a regulator of β-MHC expression that was differentially regulated by AGO2 in PTP1B cKO-PO hearts. Since increased expression of β-MHC contributes to the compensatory response that initially improves cardiac function, we will propose a model in which PTP1B inhibition regulates AGO2 activity and contributes to heart failure.