CHF1/Hey2 Promotes Physiological Hypertrophy in response to Pressure Overload

We have previously found that overexpression of CHF1/Hey2 in the myocardium prevents the development of phenylephrine-induced hypertrophy. To determine the role of CHF1/Hey2 in pressure overload hypertrophy, we performed ascending aortic banding on wild type and transgenic mice overexpressing CHF1/Hey2 in the myocardium. We found that both wild type and transgenic mice developed increased ventricular weight to body weight ratios one week after aortic banding. Wild type mice also developed decreased fractional shortening after one week when compared to preoperative echocardiograms and sham operated controls. Transgenic mice, in comparison, demonstrated preserved fractional shortening. Histological examination of explanted heart tissue demonstrated extensive fibrosis in wild type hearts, but minimal fibrosis in transgenic hearts. TUNEL staining demonstrated increased apoptosis in the wild type hearts but not in the transgenic hearts. Exposure of cultured neonatal myocytes from wild type and transgenic animals to hydrogen peroxide, a potent inducer of apoptosis, demonstrated increased apoptosis in the wild type cells. Gene Set Analysis of microarray data from wild type and transgenic hearts one week after banding revealed suppression and activation of multiple pathways involving apoptosis, cell signaling and biosynthesis. These findings demonstrate that CHF1/Hey2 promotes physiological over pathological hypertrophy in pressure overload through suppression of apoptosis and global regulation of multiple transcriptional pathways.

8