Methods and Results Mice overexpressing the R120G mutant of αB-crystallin in cardiomyocytes ( Myh6-Cry ABR 120G) were subjected to IF or ad-lib feeding, or transduced with adeno-associated virus- TFEB or adeno-associated virus-green fluorescent protein after development of advanced proteotoxic cardiomyopathy.
This study provides novel information on the molecular pathway underlying the HSPB5 physiological function in skeletal muscle, confirming the contribution of the pro-oxidant environment in HSPB5 activation and interaction with substrate/client myofibrillar proteins, offering new insights for the study of myofibrillar myopathies and cardiomyopathies.
Here, we report the current known state of the regulation and localization of HSPB5 in skeletal and cardiac tissue, making also a critical summary of all human HSPB5 mutations known to be strictly associated to specific skeletal and cardiac diseases, such as desmin-related myopathies (DRM), dilated (DCM) and restrictive (RCM) cardiomyopathy.
Genetic mutations in the human small heat shock protein αB-crystallin have been implicated in autosomal cataracts and skeletal myopathies, including heart muscle diseases (cardiomyopathy).
Primary mouse cardiomyocytes that accumulate aggregates as a result of a mutant CryAB (αB-crystallin) causative for human desmin-related cardiomyopathy were used for a total genome-wide screen to identify gene products that affected aggregate formation.
We employed a transgenic mouse model with cardiomyocyte-specific overexpression of mutant α-B-crystallin that develops slowly progressive cardiomyopathy.
Mutations in the small heat shock protein chaperone CRYAB (αB-crystallin/HSPB5) and the intermediate filament protein desmin, phenocopy each other causing cardiomyopathies.
Sildenafil treatment significantly increased myocardial PKG activity and significantly reduced myocardial accumulation of CryAB(R120G), ubiquitin conjugates, and aberrant protein aggregates in mice with CryAB(R120G)-based desmin-related cardiomyopathy.
Dominant mutations in the alpha-B crystallin (CryAB) gene are responsible for a number of inherited human disorders, including cardiomyopathy, skeletal muscle myopathy, and cataracts.
The mutation affects a residue in a highly preserved domain of alpha-B crystallin and has been identified earlier in patients with isolated cardiomyopathy.
Desmin-related cardiomyopathy is characterized by the formation of intracellular aggregates containing CryAB and desmin that are amyloid positive, and disease can be recapitulated in transgenic mice by cardiac-specific expression of the mutant protein.
This new finding suggests a constitutive function for these sHSP chaperones in the nucleus and suggests a new perspective on the cardiomyopathy-causing mutation for alpha B-crystallin that could involve transcriptional splicing effects.