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Cumberland MJ, Euchner J, Azad AJ, T N Vo N, Kirchhof P, Holmes AP, Denning C, Gehmlich K. Generation of a human iPSC-derived cardiomyocyte/fibroblast engineered heart tissue model. F1000Res 2024; 12:1224. [PMID: 38298530 PMCID: PMC10828555 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.139482.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Animal models have proven integral to broadening our understanding of complex cardiac diseases but have been hampered by significant species-dependent differences in cellular physiology. Human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) have shown great promise in the modelling of cardiac diseases despite limitations in functional and structural maturity. 3D stem cell-derived cardiac models represent a step towards mimicking the intricate microenvironment present in the heart as an in vitro model. Incorporation of non-myocyte cell types, such as cardiac fibroblasts, into engineered heart tissue models (EHTs) can help better recapitulate the cell-to-cell and cell-to-matrix interactions present in the human myocardium. Integration of human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac fibroblasts (hiPSC-CFs) and hiPSC-CM into EHT models enables the generation of a genetically homogeneous modelling system capable of exploring the abstruse structural and electrophysiological interplay present in cardiac pathophysiology. Furthermore, the construction of more physiologically relevant 3D cardiac models offers great potential in the replacement of animals in heart disease research. Here we describe efficient and reproducible protocols for the differentiation of hiPSC-CMs and hiPSC-CFs and their subsequent assimilation into EHTs. The resultant EHT consists of longitudinally arranged iPSC-CMs, incorporated alongside hiPSC-CFs. EHTs with both hiPSC-CMs and hiPSC-CFs exhibit slower beating frequencies and enhanced contractile force compared to those composed of hiPSC-CMs alone. The modified protocol may help better characterise the interplay between different cell types in the myocardium and their contribution to structural remodelling and cardiac fibrosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max J Cumberland
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Jonas Euchner
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, B15 2TT, UK
- Centre of Membrane Proteins and Receptors, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Amar J Azad
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Nguyen T N Vo
- Biodiscovery Institute, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, England, NG7 2RD, UK
| | - Paulus Kirchhof
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, B15 2TT, UK
- Department of Cardiology, University Heart and Vascular Center Hamburg, Universitat Hamburg, Hamburg, Hamburg, 20251, Germany
| | - Andrew P Holmes
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, B15 2TT, UK
- Institute of Clinical Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Chris Denning
- Biodiscovery Institute, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, England, NG7 2RD, UK
| | - Katja Gehmlich
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, B15 2TT, UK
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, OX3 9DU, UK
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Broadway-Stringer S, Jiang H, Wadmore K, Hooper C, Douglas G, Steeples V, Azad AJ, Singer E, Reyat JS, Galatik F, Ehler E, Bennett P, Kalisch-Smith JI, Sparrow DB, Davies B, Djinovic-Carugo K, Gautel M, Watkins H, Gehmlich K. Insights into the Role of a Cardiomyopathy-Causing Genetic Variant in ACTN2. Cells 2023; 12:721. [PMID: 36899856 PMCID: PMC10001372 DOI: 10.3390/cells12050721] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Revised: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 02/21/2023] [Indexed: 03/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Pathogenic variants in ACTN2, coding for alpha-actinin 2, are known to be rare causes of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. However, little is known about the underlying disease mechanisms. Adult heterozygous mice carrying the Actn2 p.Met228Thr variant were phenotyped by echocardiography. For homozygous mice, viable E15.5 embryonic hearts were analysed by High Resolution Episcopic Microscopy and wholemount staining, complemented by unbiased proteomics, qPCR and Western blotting. Heterozygous Actn2 p.Met228Thr mice have no overt phenotype. Only mature males show molecular parameters indicative of cardiomyopathy. By contrast, the variant is embryonically lethal in the homozygous setting and E15.5 hearts show multiple morphological abnormalities. Molecular analyses, including unbiased proteomics, identified quantitative abnormalities in sarcomeric parameters, cell-cycle defects and mitochondrial dysfunction. The mutant alpha-actinin protein is found to be destabilised, associated with increased activity of the ubiquitin-proteasomal system. This missense variant in alpha-actinin renders the protein less stable. In response, the ubiquitin-proteasomal system is activated; a mechanism that has been implicated in cardiomyopathies previously. In parallel, a lack of functional alpha-actinin is thought to cause energetic defects through mitochondrial dysfunction. This seems, together with cell-cycle defects, the likely cause of the death of the embryos. The defects also have wide-ranging morphological consequences.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - He Jiang
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Kirsty Wadmore
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Charlotte Hooper
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Gillian Douglas
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Violetta Steeples
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Amar J. Azad
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Evie Singer
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Jasmeet S. Reyat
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - Frantisek Galatik
- Department of Physiology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, 12800 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Elisabeth Ehler
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics, King’s College London, London SE1 9RT, UK
- School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine and Sciences, British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence, King’s College London, London SE1 9RT, UK
| | - Pauline Bennett
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics, King’s College London, London SE1 9RT, UK
| | | | - Duncan B. Sparrow
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK
| | - Benjamin Davies
- Transgenic Core, Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Kristina Djinovic-Carugo
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 38000 Grenoble, France
- Department of Structural and Computational Biology, Max Perutz Labs, University of Vienna, 1030 Vienna, Austria
| | - Mathias Gautel
- School of Basic and Medical Biosciences, British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence, King’s College London, London SE1 9RT, UK
| | - Hugh Watkins
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Katja Gehmlich
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
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Jiang H, Hooper C, Kelly M, Steeples V, Simon JN, Beglov J, Azad AJ, Leinhos L, Bennett P, Ehler E, Kalisch-Smith JI, Sparrow DB, Fischer R, Heilig R, Isackson H, Ehsan M, Patone G, Huebner N, Davies B, Watkins H, Gehmlich K. Functional analysis of a gene-edited mouse model to gain insights into the disease mechanisms of a titin missense variant. Basic Res Cardiol 2021; 116:14. [PMID: 33637999 PMCID: PMC7910237 DOI: 10.1007/s00395-021-00853-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2020] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Titin truncating variants are a well-established cause of cardiomyopathy; however, the role of titin missense variants is less well understood. Here we describe the generation of a mouse model to investigate the underlying disease mechanism of a previously reported titin A178D missense variant identified in a family with non-compaction and dilated cardiomyopathy. Heterozygous and homozygous mice carrying the titin A178D missense variant were characterised in vivo by echocardiography. Heterozygous mice had no detectable phenotype at any time point investigated (up to 1 year). By contrast, homozygous mice developed dilated cardiomyopathy from 3 months. Chronic adrenergic stimulation aggravated the phenotype. Targeted transcript profiling revealed induction of the foetal gene programme and hypertrophic signalling pathways in homozygous mice, and these were confirmed at the protein level. Unsupervised proteomics identified downregulation of telethonin and four-and-a-half LIM domain 2, as well as the upregulation of heat shock proteins and myeloid leukaemia factor 1. Loss of telethonin from the cardiac Z-disc was accompanied by proteasomal degradation; however, unfolded telethonin accumulated in the cytoplasm, leading to a proteo-toxic response in the mice.We show that the titin A178D missense variant is pathogenic in homozygous mice, resulting in cardiomyopathy. We also provide evidence of the disease mechanism: because the titin A178D variant abolishes binding of telethonin, this leads to its abnormal cytoplasmic accumulation. Subsequent degradation of telethonin by the proteasome results in proteasomal overload, and activation of a proteo-toxic response. The latter appears to be a driving factor for the cardiomyopathy observed in the mouse model.
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Affiliation(s)
- He Jiang
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Charlotte Hooper
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Matthew Kelly
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Violetta Steeples
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Jillian N Simon
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Julia Beglov
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Amar J Azad
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Lisa Leinhos
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Pauline Bennett
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics, School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London BHF Centre of Research Excellence, London, UK
| | - Elisabeth Ehler
- Randall Centre for Cell and Molecular Biophysics, School of Cardiovascular Medicine and Sciences, King's College London BHF Centre of Research Excellence, London, UK
| | | | - Duncan B Sparrow
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Roman Fischer
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Target Discovery Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Raphael Heilig
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Target Discovery Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Henrik Isackson
- Department of Medical Sciences, Cardiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
- Department of Medical Cell Biology, Integrative Physiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Mehroz Ehsan
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Giannino Patone
- Max Delbrueck Centre for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany
| | - Norbert Huebner
- Max Delbrueck Centre for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, Germany
| | - Benjamin Davies
- Transgenic Core, Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Hugh Watkins
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Katja Gehmlich
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine and British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Oxford, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK.
- Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
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