Effect of a coronary-heart-disease-associated variant of ADAMTS7 on endothelial cell angiogenesis

BAY-9835: Discovery of the First Orally Bioavailable ADAMTS7 Inhibitor

The matrix metalloprotease ADAMTS7 has been identified by multiple genome-wide association studies as being involved in the development of coronary artery disease. Subsequent research revealed the proteolytic function of the enzyme to be relevant for atherogenesis and restenosis after vessel injury. Based on a publicly known dual ADAMTS4/ADAMTS5 inhibitor, we have in silico designed an ADAMTS7 inhibitor of the catalytic domain, which served as a starting point for an optimization campaign. Initially our inhibitors suffered from low selectivity vs MMP12. An X-ray cocrystal structure inspired us to exploit amino acid differences in the binding site of MMP12 and ADAMTS7 to improve selectivity. Further optimization composed of employing 5-membered heteroaromatic groups as hydantoin substituents to become more potent on ADAMTS7. Finally, fine-tuning of DMPK properties yielded BAY-9835, the first orally bioavailable ADAMTS7 inhibitor. Further optimization to improve selectivity vs ADAMTS12 seems possible, and a respective starting point could be identified.

Multimodal CRISPR perturbations of GWAS loci associated with coronary artery disease in vascular endothelial cells

Genome-wide association studies have identified >250 genetic variants associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), but the causal variants, genes and molecular mechanisms remain unknown at most loci. We performed pooled CRISPR screens to test the impact of sequences at or near CAD-associated genetic variants on vascular endothelial cell functions. Using CRISPR knockout, inhibition and activation, we targeted 1998 variants at 83 CAD loci to assess their effect on three adhesion proteins (E-selectin, ICAM1, VCAM1) and three key endothelial functions (nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species production, calcium signalling). At a false discovery rate ≤10%, we identified significant CRISPR perturbations near 42 variants located within 26 CAD loci. We used base editing to validate a putative causal variant in the promoter of the FES gene. Although a few of the loci include genes previously characterized in endothelial cells (e.g. AIDA, ARHGEF26, ADAMTS7), most are implicated in endothelial dysfunction for the first time. Detailed characterization of one of these new loci implicated the RNA helicase DHX38 in vascular endothelial cell senescence. While promising, our results also highlighted several limitations in using CRISPR perturbations to functionally dissect GWAS loci, including an unknown false negative rate and potential off-target effects.

ADAMTS-7 deficiency attenuates thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection in mice

Thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection (TAAD) is a life-threatening cardiovascular disease with severe extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling that lacks efficient early stage diagnosis and nonsurgical therapy. A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motif 7 (ADAMTS-7) is recognized as a novel locus for human coronary artery atherosclerosis. Previous work by us and others showed that ADAMTS-7 promoted atherosclerosis, postinjury neointima formation, and vascular calcification. However, whether ADAMTS-7 is involved in TAAD pathogenesis is unknown. We aimed to explore the alterations in ADAMTS-7 expression in human and mouse TAAD, and investigate the role of ADAMTS-7 in TAAD formation. A case-control study of TAAD patients (N = 86) and healthy participants (N = 88) was performed. The plasma ADAMTS-7 levels were markedly increased in TAAD patients within 24 h and peaked in 7 days. A TAAD mouse model was induced with 0.5% β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN) in drinking water. ELISA analysis of mouse plasma, Western blotting, and immunohistochemical staining of aorta showed an increase in ADAMTS-7 in the early stage of TAAD. Moreover, ADAMTS-7-deficient mice exhibited significantly attenuated TAAD formation and TAAD rupture-related mortality in both male and female mice, which was accompanied by reduced artery dilation and inhibited elastin degradation. ADAMTS-7 deficiency caused repressed inflammatory response and complement system activation during TAAD formation. An increase in plasma ADAMTS-7 is a novel biomarker for human TAAD. ADAMTS-7 deficiency attenuates BAPN-induced murine TAAD. ADAMTS-7 is a potential novel target for TAAD diagnosis and therapy. KEY MESSAGES: A case-control study revealed increased plasma ADAMTS-7 is a risk factor for TAAD. ADAMTS-7 was elevated in plasma and aorta at early stage of mouse TAAD. ADAMTS-7 knockout attenuated mouse TAAD formation and mortality in both sexes.

Integrated analysis of miRNA-mRNA regulatory network and functional verification of miR-338-3p in coronary heart disease

Coronary heart disease is a cardiovascular disease with high morbidity and mortality. Although great progress has been made in treatment, the prognosis is still very poor. Therefore, this project aims to screen potential diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets related to the progression of coronary heart disease. A total of 94 overlapping differentially expressed mRNAs and 70 differentially expressed miRNAs were identified from GSE20681, GSE12288, GSE49823, and GSE105449. Through a series of bioinformatics methods and experiment, we obtained 5 core miRNA-mRNA regulatory pairs, and selected miR-338-3p/RPS23 for functional analysis. Moreover, we found that RPS23 directly targets miR-338-3p by dual luciferase assay, western, and qPCR. And the expression of miR-338-3p and RPS23 is negatively correlated. The AUC value of miR-338-3p is 0.847. Downregulation of miR-338-3p can significantly inhibit the proliferation and migration of HUVEC. On the contrary, overexpression of miR-338-3p promoted the proliferation and migration of HUVEC. In addition, the interference of RPS23 expression can reverse the regulation of miR-338-3p on HUVEC proliferation. In conclusion, miR-338-3p/RPS23 may be involved in the progression of coronary heart disease, and miR-338-3p may be a diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for coronary heart disease.