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Bink DI, Pham TP, Van Bergen A, Stanicek L, Van Der Ven D, Groenen EMJ, Kaagman L, Jonk M, Hofmann P, Dimmeler S, Boon RA. Long non-coding RNA TERRA regulates DNA damage and survival of endothelial cells and cardiomyocytes: implications for aging. Eur Heart J 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehac544.3018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Introduction
Ageing is the major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Long non-coding RNAs are emerging as novel regulators of cellular functions and contributors to cardiovascular ageing. One of the hallmarks of aging is telomere attrition. Non-coding transcripts called Telomeric repeat-containing RNA (TERRA) are molecules of 0.2–10kb in length which are transcribed from the subtelomeres and telomeres of chromosomes and might play a role in cardiovascular ageing.
Purpose
This study aims to characterize the role of TERRA in aging of the cardiovascular system.
Methods and results
TERRA molecules from different chromosomes were upregulated in the hearts of old mice compared to young mice (p=0.002). Increased TERRA expression was also shown in heart tissue of patients with ischemic heart disease compared to donors (p=0.001). In vitro an upregulation of the TERRA molecule transcribed from chromosome 20 (h20q-TERRA) was found with increasing passage in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) (p=0.014) and IPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (p=0.011). After h20q-TERRA knockdown with LNA GapmeRs, HUVECs show less sprout formation in a spheroid assay compared to negative control transfected HUVECs (p=0.002), without showing a change in migration (p=0.205) or proliferation (p=0.114). H20q-TERRA knockdown revealed an increase in apoptosis (p=0.015) and telomeric DNA damage (p=0.011) and a decrease in telomere length (p<0.001), while lentiviral TERRA-repeat overexpression had the opposite effect (p=0.016, p=0.031, p<0.001, resp.). Apoptosis (p=0.012) and telomeric DNA damage (p=0.007) were also increased after the knockdown of h20q-TERRA in human cardiomyocytes. An apoptosis pathway profiler array in HUVECs showed that the expression of the antioxidant PON2 was decreased after knockdown of h20q-TERRA (p=0.040). PON2 expression was increased after TERRA overexpression (p=0.003). RNA immunoprecipitation revealed that TERRA can bind to PON2. Silencing PON2 in TERRA overexpressing cells diminished the TERRA-mediated decrease in caspase activation, suggesting a detrimental role for PON2 in caspase activation and endothelial cell survival.
Conclusion
Our data demonstrates that TERRA is upregulated with ageing and plays a role in endothelial and cardiomyocyte function and survival.
Funding Acknowledgement
Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – EU funding. Main funding source(s): Horizon 2020
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Affiliation(s)
- D I Bink
- Amsterdam UMC - Location VUmc , Amsterdam , The Netherlands
| | - T P Pham
- Amsterdam UMC - Location VUmc , Amsterdam , The Netherlands
| | - A Van Bergen
- Amsterdam UMC - Location VUmc , Amsterdam , The Netherlands
| | - L Stanicek
- Amsterdam UMC - Location VUmc , Amsterdam , The Netherlands
| | - D Van Der Ven
- Amsterdam UMC - Location VUmc , Amsterdam , The Netherlands
| | - E M J Groenen
- Amsterdam UMC - Location VUmc , Amsterdam , The Netherlands
| | - L Kaagman
- Amsterdam UMC - Location VUmc , Amsterdam , The Netherlands
| | - M Jonk
- Amsterdam UMC - Location VUmc , Amsterdam , The Netherlands
| | - P Hofmann
- Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Institute for Cardiovascular Regeneration , Frankfurt am Main , Germany
| | - S Dimmeler
- Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Institute for Cardiovascular Regeneration , Frankfurt am Main , Germany
| | - R A Boon
- Amsterdam UMC - Location VUmc , Amsterdam , The Netherlands
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