Cardiac Wnt5a and Wnt11 promote fibrosis by the crosstalk of FZD5 and EGFR signaling under pressure overload

Yan Zou,Junbo Ge,Jianguo Jia,Hui Gong,Xuejuan Jin,Yunzeng Zou,Yi Shen,Ying Wang,Chenxing Huang,Xiang Wang,Le Pan,Juying Qian,Chao Yin,Hao Wang

doi:10.1038/s41419-021-04152-2

Abstract

Progressive cardiac fibrosis accelerates the development of heart failure. Here, we aimed to explore serum Wnt5a and Wnt11 levels in hypertension patients, the roles of Wnt5a and Wnt11 in cardiac fibrosis and potential mechanisms under pressure overload. The pressure overload mouse model was built by transverse aortic constriction (TAC). Cardiac fibrosis was analyzed by Masson’s staining. Serum Wnt5a or Wnt11 was elevated and associated with diastolic dysfunction in hypertension patients. TAC enhanced the expression and secretion of Wnt5a or Wnt11 from cardiomyocytes (CMs), cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), and cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs). Knockdown of Wnt5a and Wnt11 greatly improved cardiac fibrosis and function at 4 weeks after TAC. In vitro, shWnt5a or shWnt11 lentivirus transfection inhibited pro-fibrotic effects in CFs under mechanical stretch (MS). Similarly, conditional medium from stretched-CMs transfected with shWnt5a or shWnt11 lentivirus significantly suppressed the pro-fibrotic effects induced by conditional medium from stretched-CMs. These data suggested that CMs- or CFs-derived Wnt5a or Wnt11 showed a pro-fibrotic effect under pressure overload. In vitro, exogenous Wnt5a or Wnt11 activated ERK and p38 (fibrotic-related signaling) pathway, promoted the phosphorylation of EGFR, and increased the expression of Frizzled 5 (FZD5) in CFs. Inhibition or knockdown of EGFR greatly attenuated the increased FZD5, p-p38, and p-ERK levels, and the pro-fibrotic effect induced by Wnt5a or Wnt11 in CFs. Si-FZD5 transfection suppressed the increased p-EGFR level, and the fibrotic-related effects in CFs treated with Wnt5a or Wnt11. In conclusion, pressure overload enhances the secretion of Wnt5a or Wnt11 from CMs and CFs which promotes cardiac fibrosis by activation the crosstalk of FZD5 and EGFR. Thus, Wnt5a or Wnt11 may be a novel therapeutic target for the prevention of cardiac fibrosis under pressure overload.

Highlights

Cardiac fibrosis, induced by a variety of cardiac injuries, reduces ventricle wall compliance, and disrupts cardiac conduction, leading to the decreased cardiac output and the development of heart failure
cardiac fibroblasts (CFs)- or CMs-secreted-Wnt5a/11 contribute to reactive cardiac fibrosis by the crosstalk of Frizzled 5 (FZD5) and EGFR signaling, which may lead to subsequent cardiac dysfunction (Fig. S6)
The present study illustrated a novel mechanism by which cardiac fibrosis is initiated by Wnt5a or Wnt11 at the early phase of the hypertensive heart

Summary

Introduction

Cardiac fibrosis, induced by a variety of cardiac injuries, reduces ventricle wall compliance, and disrupts cardiac conduction, leading to the decreased cardiac output and the development of heart failure. Progressive cardiac fibrosis is predominantly mediated by the activation of resident cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) in response to pressure overload or myocardial infarction (MI) injury [1, 2]. Inhibition of activation of resident CFs would be an attractive therapeutic approach in heart failure. We recently observed cardiac-specific LRP6 overexpression suppressed cardiac fibrosis and inhibited the secretion and expression of Wnt5a and Wnt in CMs under pressure overload [5]. Wnt5a and Wnt, two non-canonical Wnt ligands, are co-required to promote second heart field development by restraining Wnt/β-catenin signaling in mice [6]. Few evidences indicate that Wnt5a or Wnt directly promotes cardiac fibrosis during chronic pressure overload

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