ABSTRACT
The autosomal dominant mutation in the human alphaB-crystallin gene inducing a R120G amino acid exchange causes a multisystem, protein aggregation disease including cardiomyopathy. The pathogenesis of cardiomyopathy in this mutant (hR120GCryAB) is poorly understood. Here, we show that transgenic mice overexpressing cardiac-specific hR120GCryAB recapitulate the cardiomyopathy in humans and find that the mice are under reductive stress. The myopathic hearts show an increased recycling of oxidized glutathione (GSSG) to reduced glutathione (GSH), which is due to the augmented expression and enzymatic activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), glutathione reductase, and glutathione peroxidase. The intercross of hR120GCryAB cardiomyopathic animals with mice with reduced G6PD levels rescues the progeny from cardiac hypertrophy and protein aggregation. These findings demonstrate that dysregulation of G6PD activity is necessary and sufficient for maladaptive reductive stress and suggest a novel therapeutic target for abrogating R120GCryAB cardiomyopathy and heart failure in humans.
Subject(s)
Cardiomyopathies/genetics , Cardiomyopathies/metabolism , Mutation, Missense , Oxidative Stress/genetics , alpha-Crystallin B Chain/genetics , Animals , Arginine/genetics , Cardiomyopathies/enzymology , Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase/antagonists & inhibitors , Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase/genetics , Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase/metabolism , Glutathione/metabolism , Glycine/genetics , Humans , Mice , Mice, Transgenic , Oxidation-Reduction , Proteins/metabolism , alpha-Crystallin B Chain/physiologyABSTRACT
Members of the heat shock factor (HSF) family are evolutionarily conserved regulators that share a highly homologous DNA-binding domain. In mammals, HSF1 is the main factor controlling the stress-inducible expression of Hsp genes while the functions of HSF2 and HSF4 are less clear. Based on its developmental profile of expression, it was hypothesized that HSF2 may play an essential role in brain and heart development, spermatogenesis, and erythroid differentiation. To directly assess this hypothesis and better understand the underlying mechanisms that require HSF2, we generated Hsf2 knockout mice. Here, we report that Hsf2(-/-) mice are viable and fertile and exhibit normal life span and behavioral functions. We conclude that HSF2, most probably because its physiological roles are integrated into a redundant network of gene regulation and function, is dispensable for normal development, fertility, and postnatal psychomotor function.
