Abstract P316: Role Of Scleraxis In Cardiac Valve Development And Disease

Abstract

Valvular heart disease is one of the major causes of cardiac-related deaths in the US and effective treatment is currently limited to surgical repair or replacement. Mature heart valves are composed of highly organized and stratified layers of extracellular matrix (ECM) regulated by valve interstitial cells (VICs). This stratification that is initiated during embryogenesis and completed during valve maturation after birth, needs to be maintained throughout life for normal valve function. Myxomatous degeneration is a common disease histologically characterized by imbalance in ECM composition and organization resulting in valve biomechanical failure. Yet, key regulators of ECM homeostasis are not well characterized. Scleraxis (Scx) is a bHLH transcription factor that we previously showed to be critical for heart valve development and its loss of function leads to defective VIC maturation and aberrant ECM organization. However, due to lack of efficient tools, the mechanistic function of Scx in valve development and disease in vivo remains to be understood. Herein, we performed temporal analysis of Scx transcript levels during development of murine homeostatic valves and identified that Scx is predominantly expressed in the VICs between E13.5 and P14. We also assessed Scx levels and ECM abnormalities in valve tissues derived from patients with cardiac valve diseases and identified several distinct populations of VICs with high Scx levels that partially colocalized with elevated collagen fragmentation and proteoglycan (PG) deposition in the neighboring ECM. Scx levels were also elevated in valves of Fbn1 C1039G/+ and osteogenesis imperfecta murine ( OIM ) mice that develop myxomatous valve abnormalities signifying a potential role in pathogenesis. To further study the function of Scx in valve development and disease in vivo , we have generated a conditional Scx-transgenic model (Scx-TG) that will allow for overexpression in targeted cell lineages upon Cre recombination. Additionally, we will employ Scx-Cre mouse model expressing Scx-promoter driven Cre -recombinase to perform Scx-expressing cell lineage analyses and high-throughput sequencing analyses to identify direct gene targets and protein-interaction partners of Scx to better understand its mechanistic role in regulating valve ECM homeostasis. Together these in vivo approaches will provide novel insights into the function of Scx in heart development and disease.