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Suppression of detyrosinated microtubules improves cardiomyocyte function in human heart failure

Nature Medicine volume 24, pages 1225–1233 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Detyrosinated microtubules provide mechanical resistance that can impede the motion of contracting cardiomyocytes. However, the functional effects of microtubule detyrosination in heart failure or in human hearts have not previously been studied. Here, we utilize mass spectrometry and single-myocyte mechanical assays to characterize changes to the cardiomyocyte cytoskeleton and their functional consequences in human heart failure. Proteomic analysis of left ventricle tissue reveals a consistent upregulation and stabilization of intermediate filaments and microtubules in failing human hearts. As revealed by super-resolution imaging, failing cardiomyocytes are characterized by a dense, heavily detyrosinated microtubule network, which is associated with increased myocyte stiffness and impaired contractility. Pharmacological suppression of detyrosinated microtubules lowers the viscoelasticity of failing myocytes and restores 40–50% of lost contractile function; reduction of microtubule detyrosination using a genetic approach also softens cardiomyocytes and improves contractile kinetics. Together, these data demonstrate that a modified cytoskeletal network impedes contractile function in cardiomyocytes from failing human hearts and that targeting detyrosinated microtubules could represent a new inotropic strategy for improving cardiac function.

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Fig. 1: Proteomic analysis of human left ventricular tissues of varying disease severity and etiology.
Fig. 2: Characterization of microtubules and desmin in non-failing and failing human myocytes.
Fig. 3: Microtubule-dependent viscoelasticity of human myocytes measured via nanoindentation.
Fig. 4: Suppression of detyrosinated microtubules improves contractility in failing human cardiomyocytes.
Fig. 5: Genetic modification of tubulin tyrosination reduces stiffness and improves contractility.

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Acknowledgements

We would like thank the Quantitative Proteomics Resource Core of the Perelman School of Medicine and the Penn Center for Musculoskeletal Disorders Histology Core at the University of Pennsylvania. This work was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01-HL133080 to B.L.P. and T32 R05346-09 to P.R., the American Heart Association 17POST33440043 to M.A.C., and by the Center for Engineering MechanoBiology through a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Science and Technology Center program: 15-48571. The procurement of human heart tissue was enabled by grants from the NIH (HL089847 and HL105993) to K.B.M.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Pennsylvania Muscle Institute, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Christina Yingxian Chen, Matthew A. Caporizzo, Alexey I. Bogush, Patrick Robison, Julie G. Heffler, Alex K. Salomon, Neil A. Kelly, Kenneth B. Margulies & Benjamin L. Prosser

  2. Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Kenneth Bedi, Alexia Vite, Apoorva Babu, Michael P. Morley & Kenneth B. Margulies

  3. Penn Cardiovascular Institute, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Apoorva Babu, Michael P. Morley, Kenneth B. Margulies & Benjamin L. Prosser

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  1. Christina Yingxian Chen
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Contributions

B.L.P., C.Y.C., M.A.C., and K.B.M. designed the study. B.L.P., C.Y.C., M.A.C., K.B., A.V., N.A.K., A.I.B., P.R., J.G.H., and A.K.S. carried out the data acquisition and analysis. M.P.M., C.Y.C., A.B., and B.L.P. carried out the proteomic analysis. B.L.P., C.Y.C., M.A.C., P.R., and K.B.M. interpreted the data. B.L.P. and C.Y.C. prepared the manuscript. All authors participated in the critical review and revision of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Benjamin L. Prosser.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–6

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Supplementary Tables 1–6

Supplementary Video 1

Skeletonized 3D reconstruction of the microtubule network from Airyscan imaging of a failing human myocyte (DCM) labeled with Tyr-tubulin antibody to demonstrate the density of the microtubule network

Supplementary Video 2

Microtubule buckling in a contracting non-failing myocyte infected with AdV-EMTB for 48 h

Supplementary Video 3

Microtubule buckling in a contracting failing myocyte (DCM) infected with AdV-EMTB for 48 h

Supplementary Data

Spreadsheet of mass spectrometry data

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Chen, C.Y., Caporizzo, M.A., Bedi, K. et al. Suppression of detyrosinated microtubules improves cardiomyocyte function in human heart failure. Nat Med 24, 1225–1233 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-018-0046-2

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