Rho A/ROCK1 signaling-mediated metabolic reprogramming of valvular interstitial cells toward Warburg effect accelerates aortic valve calcification via AMPK/RUNX2 axis

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The aberrant differentiation of valvular interstitial cells (VICs) to osteogenic lineages promotes calcified aortic valves disease (CAVD), partly activated by potentially destructive hemodynamic forces. These involve Rho A/ROCK1 signaling, a mechano-sensing pathway. However, how Rho A/ROCK1 signaling transduces mechanical signals into cellular responses and disrupts normal VIC homeostasis remain unclear. We examined Rho A/ROCK1 signaling in human aortic valves, and further detected how Rho A/ROCK1 signaling regulates mineralization in human VICs. Aortic valves (CAVD n = 22, normal control (NC) n = 12) from patients undergoing valve replacement were investigated. Immunostaining and western blotting analysis indicated that Rho A/ROCK1 signaling, as well as key transporters and enzymes involved in the Warburg effect, were markedly upregulated in human calcified aortic valves compared with those in the controls. In vitro, Rho A/ROCK1-induced calcification was confirmed as AMPK-dependent, via a mechanism involving metabolic reprogramming of human VICs to Warburg effect. Y-27632, a selective ROCK1 inhibitor, suppressed the Warburg effect, rescued AMPK activity and subsequently increased RUNX2 ubiquitin-proteasome degradation, leading to decreased RUNX2 protein accumulation in human VICs under pathological osteogenic stimulus. Rho A/ROCK1 signaling, which is elevated in human calcified aortic valves, plays a positive role in valvular calcification, partially through its ability to drive metabolic switching of VICs to the Warburg effect, leading to altered AMPK activity and RUNX2 protein accumulation. Thus, Rho A/ROCK1 signaling could be an important and unrecognized hub of destructive hemodynamics and cellular aerobic glycolysis that is essential to promote the CAVD process.