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Adrenal GRK2 upregulation mediates sympathetic overdrive in heart failure

Nature Medicine volume 13, pages 315–323 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Cardiac overstimulation by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is a salient characteristic of heart failure, reflected by elevated circulating levels of catecholamines. The success of β-adrenergic receptor (βAR) antagonists in heart failure argues for SNS hyperactivity being pathogenic; however, sympatholytic agents targeting α2AR-mediated catecholamine inhibition have been unsuccessful. By investigating adrenal adrenergic receptor signaling in heart failure models, we found molecular mechanisms to explain the failure of sympatholytic agents and discovered a new strategy to lower SNS activity. During heart failure, there is substantial α2AR dysregulation in the adrenal gland, triggered by increased expression and activity of G protein–coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2). Adrenal gland–specific GRK2 inhibition reversed α2AR dysregulation in heart failure, resulting in lowered plasma catecholamine levels, improved cardiac βAR signaling and function, and increased sympatholytic efficacy of a α2AR agonist. This is the first demonstration, to our knowledge, of a molecular mechanism for SNS hyperactivity in heart failure, and our study identifies adrenal GRK2 activity as a new sympatholytic target.

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Figure 1: Adrenal hypertrophy and overactivity in heart failure.
Figure 2: Adrenal α2AR downregulation in heart failure.
Figure 3: Adrenal GRK2 upregulation in heart failure.
Figure 4: Adrenal GRK2 upregulation leads to enhanced adrenal α2AR desensitization and catecholamine secretion in heart failure.
Figure 5: Inhibition of adrenal GRK2 activity leads to improved function of the failing heart.
Figure 6: Schematic representation of the pathophysiologic role of GRK2 and the therapeutic potential of its inhibition in heart failure.

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. Lefkowitz (Duke University Medical Center) for the antibody to βarrs A1CT and M. Santangelo (University of Naples “Federico II”) for providing the human adrenal gland tissue. We also thank J. Kurt Chuprun for technical advice, R. Kerkela for assistance with immunofluorescence, and S. Soltys, M. Kuhn, R.-H. Zhou, M. Shapiro and C. Zincarelli for technical assistance. This work was supported in part by US National Institutes of Health grants R01 HL61690, R01 HL56205 and P01-HL075443 (to W.J.K.) and a fellowship from the Pennsylvania-Delaware Affiliate of the American Heart Association (to A.L.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Translational Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, 19107, Pennsylvania, USA

    Anastasios Lymperopoulos, Giuseppe Rengo, Hajime Funakoshi, Andrea D Eckhart & Walter J Koch

  2. George Zallie and Family Laboratory for Cardiovascular Gene Therapy, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, 19107, Pennsylvania, USA

    Anastasios Lymperopoulos, Giuseppe Rengo & Walter J Koch

  3. Department of Medicine, Eugene Feiner Laboratory for Vascular Biology and Thrombosis, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, 19107, Pennsylvania, USA

    Andrea D Eckhart

Authors
  1. Anastasios Lymperopoulos
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  3. Hajime Funakoshi
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  4. Andrea D Eckhart
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  5. Walter J Koch
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Contributions

A.L. conceived the project, conducted all the experiments and wrote the paper. G.R. did the in vivo gene delivery and the echocardiographic and hemodynamic studies. H.F. did the echocardiography in CSQ-Tg mice. A.D.E. contributed to the writing of the paper. W.J.K. supervised the project and wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Walter J Koch.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. 1

Echocardiographic analysis of 3-month-old NLC and CSQ/Tg mice. (PDF 16 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Basal and isoproterenol-stimulated hemodynamic responses in 3-month-old NLC and CSQ/Tg mice. (PDF 22 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 3

Echocardiographic analysis of HF rats 10 weeks post-MI (HF) and age-matched sham-operated controls (sham). (PDF 16 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 4

α2-ARs and GRK2 are expressed in human adrenal glands. (PDF 270 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 5

Adenoviral-mediated transfection of primary chromaffin cells. (PDF 87 kb)

Supplementary Table 1

In vivo cardiac functional parameters after adrenal gene delivery. (PDF 114 kb)

Supplementary Methods (PDF 81 kb)

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Lymperopoulos, A., Rengo, G., Funakoshi, H. et al. Adrenal GRK2 upregulation mediates sympathetic overdrive in heart failure. Nat Med 13, 315–323 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1553

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