Metastable Atrial State Underlies the Primary Genetic Substrate for MYL4 Mutation-Associated Atrial Fibrillation

TY - JOUR

T1 - Metastable Atrial State Underlies the Primary Genetic Substrate for MYL4 Mutation-Associated Atrial Fibrillation

AU - Ghazizadeh, Zaniar

AU - Kiviniemi, Tuomas

AU - Olafsson, Sigurast

AU - Plotnick, David

AU - Beerens, Manu E

AU - Zhang, Kun

AU - Gillon, Leah

AU - Steinbaugh, Michael J

AU - Barrera, Victor

AU - Sui, Shannan Ho

AU - Werdich, Andreas A

AU - Kapur, Sunil

AU - Eranti, Antti

AU - Gunn, Jarmo

AU - Jalkanen, Juho

AU - Airaksinen, Juhani

AU - Kleber, Andre G

AU - Hollmén, Maija

AU - MacRae, Calum A

PY - 2020/1/28

Y1 - 2020/1/28

N2 - BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common clinical arrhythmia and is associated with heart failure, stroke, and increased mortality. The myocardial substrate for AF is poorly understood because of limited access to primary human tissue and mechanistic questions around existing in vitro or in vivo models.METHODS: Using an MYH6:mCherry knock-in reporter line, we developed a protocol to generate and highly purify human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes displaying physiological and molecular characteristics of atrial cells. We modeled human MYL4 mutants, one of the few definitive genetic causes of AF. To explore non-cell-autonomous components of AF substrate, we also created a zebrafish Myl4 knockout model, which exhibited molecular, cellular, and physiologic abnormalities that parallel those in humans bearing the cognate mutations.RESULTS: There was evidence of increased retinoic acid signaling in both human embryonic stem cells and zebrafish mutant models, as well as abnormal expression and localization of cytoskeletal proteins, and loss of intracellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide + hydrogen. To identify potentially druggable proximate mechanisms, we performed a chemical suppressor screen integrating multiple human cellular and zebrafish in vivo endpoints. This screen identified Cx43 (connexin 43) hemichannel blockade as a robust suppressor of the abnormal phenotypes in both models of MYL4 (myosin light chain 4)-related atrial cardiomyopathy. Immunofluorescence and coimmunoprecipitation studies revealed an interaction between MYL4 and Cx43 with altered localization of Cx43 hemichannels to the lateral membrane in MYL4 mutants, as well as in atrial biopsies from unselected forms of human AF. The membrane fraction from MYL4-/- human embryonic stem cell derived atrial cells demonstrated increased phospho-Cx43, which was further accentuated by retinoic acid treatment and by the presence of risk alleles at the Pitx2 locus. PKC (protein kinase C) was induced by retinoic acid, and PKC inhibition also rescued the abnormal phenotypes in the atrial cardiomyopathy models.CONCLUSIONS: These data establish a mechanistic link between the transcriptional, metabolic and electrical pathways previously implicated in AF substrate and suggest novel avenues for the prevention or therapy of this common arrhythmia.

AB - BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common clinical arrhythmia and is associated with heart failure, stroke, and increased mortality. The myocardial substrate for AF is poorly understood because of limited access to primary human tissue and mechanistic questions around existing in vitro or in vivo models.METHODS: Using an MYH6:mCherry knock-in reporter line, we developed a protocol to generate and highly purify human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes displaying physiological and molecular characteristics of atrial cells. We modeled human MYL4 mutants, one of the few definitive genetic causes of AF. To explore non-cell-autonomous components of AF substrate, we also created a zebrafish Myl4 knockout model, which exhibited molecular, cellular, and physiologic abnormalities that parallel those in humans bearing the cognate mutations.RESULTS: There was evidence of increased retinoic acid signaling in both human embryonic stem cells and zebrafish mutant models, as well as abnormal expression and localization of cytoskeletal proteins, and loss of intracellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide + hydrogen. To identify potentially druggable proximate mechanisms, we performed a chemical suppressor screen integrating multiple human cellular and zebrafish in vivo endpoints. This screen identified Cx43 (connexin 43) hemichannel blockade as a robust suppressor of the abnormal phenotypes in both models of MYL4 (myosin light chain 4)-related atrial cardiomyopathy. Immunofluorescence and coimmunoprecipitation studies revealed an interaction between MYL4 and Cx43 with altered localization of Cx43 hemichannels to the lateral membrane in MYL4 mutants, as well as in atrial biopsies from unselected forms of human AF. The membrane fraction from MYL4-/- human embryonic stem cell derived atrial cells demonstrated increased phospho-Cx43, which was further accentuated by retinoic acid treatment and by the presence of risk alleles at the Pitx2 locus. PKC (protein kinase C) was induced by retinoic acid, and PKC inhibition also rescued the abnormal phenotypes in the atrial cardiomyopathy models.CONCLUSIONS: These data establish a mechanistic link between the transcriptional, metabolic and electrical pathways previously implicated in AF substrate and suggest novel avenues for the prevention or therapy of this common arrhythmia.

KW - Animals

KW - Animals, Genetically Modified/genetics

KW - Atrial Fibrillation/genetics

KW - Cell Line

KW - Connexin 43/genetics

KW - Gene Knockout Techniques

KW - Heart Atria/metabolism

KW - Human Embryonic Stem Cells/metabolism

KW - Humans

KW - Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells/metabolism

KW - Mutation

KW - Myocytes, Cardiac/metabolism

KW - Myosin Light Chains/genetics

KW - Zebrafish

KW - Zebrafish Proteins/genetics

U2 - 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.044268

DO - 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.044268

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 31735076

VL - 141

SP - 301

EP - 312

JO - CIRCULATION

JF - CIRCULATION

SN - 0009-7322

IS - 4

ER -