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Portero V, Nicol T, Podliesna S, Marchal GA, Baartscheer A, Casini S, Tadros R, Treur JL, Tanck MWT, Cox IJ, Probert F, Hough TA, Falcone S, Beekman L, Müller-Nurasyid M, Kastenmüller G, Gieger C, Peters A, Kääb S, Sinner MF, Blease A, Verkerk AO, Bezzina CR, Potter PK, Remme CA. Chronically elevated branched chain amino acid levels are pro-arrhythmic. Cardiovasc Res 2021; 118:1742-1757. [PMID: 34142125 PMCID: PMC9215196 DOI: 10.1093/cvr/cvab207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Aims Cardiac arrhythmias comprise a major health and economic burden and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality, including cardiac failure, stroke, and sudden cardiac death (SCD). Development of efficient preventive and therapeutic strategies is hampered by incomplete knowledge of disease mechanisms and pathways. Our aim is to identify novel mechanisms underlying cardiac arrhythmia and SCD using an unbiased approach. Methods and results We employed a phenotype-driven N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea mutagenesis screen and identified a mouse line with a high incidence of sudden death at young age (6–9 weeks) in the absence of prior symptoms. Affected mice were found to be homozygous for the nonsense mutation Bcat2p.Q300*/p.Q300* in the Bcat2 gene encoding branched chain amino acid transaminase 2. At the age of 4–5 weeks, Bcat2p.Q300*/p.Q300* mice displayed drastic increase of plasma levels of branch chain amino acids (BCAAs—leucine, isoleucine, valine) due to the incomplete catabolism of BCAAs, in addition to inducible arrhythmias ex vivo as well as cardiac conduction and repolarization disturbances. In line with these findings, plasma BCAA levels were positively correlated to electrocardiogram indices of conduction and repolarization in the German community-based KORA F4 Study. Isolated cardiomyocytes from Bcat2p.Q300*/p.Q300* mice revealed action potential (AP) prolongation, pro-arrhythmic events (early and late afterdepolarizations, triggered APs), and dysregulated calcium homeostasis. Incubation of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes with elevated concentration of BCAAs induced similar calcium dysregulation and pro-arrhythmic events which were prevented by rapamycin, demonstrating the crucial involvement of mTOR pathway activation. Conclusions Our findings identify for the first time a causative link between elevated BCAAs and arrhythmia, which has implications for arrhythmogenesis in conditions associated with BCAA metabolism dysregulation such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and heart failure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincent Portero
- Heart Center, Department of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Thomas Nicol
- Mammalian genetics Unit, MRC Harwell Institute, Harwell, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
| | - Svitlana Podliesna
- Heart Center, Department of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Gerard A Marchal
- Heart Center, Department of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Antonius Baartscheer
- Heart Center, Department of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Simona Casini
- Heart Center, Department of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Rafik Tadros
- Cardiovascular Genetics Center, Montreal Heart Institute and Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada
| | - Jorien L Treur
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Michael W T Tanck
- Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Amsterdam UMC, Location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - I Jane Cox
- Institute for Hepatology London, Foundation for Liver Research, London, UK.,Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, Kings College, London, UK
| | - Fay Probert
- Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford UK
| | - Tertius A Hough
- Mammalian genetics Unit, MRC Harwell Institute, Harwell, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
| | - Sara Falcone
- Mammalian genetics Unit, MRC Harwell Institute, Harwell, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
| | - Leander Beekman
- Heart Center, Department of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Martina Müller-Nurasyid
- Institute of Genetic Epidemiology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.,IBE, Faculty of Medicine, Ludwig Maximilian's University (LMU) Munich, Germany.,Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), University Medical Center, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
| | - Gabi Kastenmüller
- Institute of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.,German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Christian Gieger
- Institute of Human Genetics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Annette Peters
- Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.,German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), partner site: Munich Heart Alliance, Munich, Germany
| | - Stefan Kääb
- Department of Internal Medicine I (Cardiology), Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilian's University (LMU) Munich, Germany.,German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), partner site: Munich Heart Alliance, Munich, Germany
| | - Moritz F Sinner
- Department of Internal Medicine I (Cardiology), Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilian's University (LMU) Munich, Germany.,German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), partner site: Munich Heart Alliance, Munich, Germany
| | - Andrew Blease
- Mammalian genetics Unit, MRC Harwell Institute, Harwell, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
| | - Arie O Verkerk
- Heart Center, Department of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Connie R Bezzina
- Heart Center, Department of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Paul K Potter
- Mammalian genetics Unit, MRC Harwell Institute, Harwell, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.,Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK
| | - Carol Ann Remme
- Heart Center, Department of Clinical and Experimental Cardiology, Amsterdam UMC, location AMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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