F. Del Monte et al., Restoration of contractile function in isolated cardiomyocytes from failing human hearts by gene transfer of SERCA2a, CIRCULATION, 100(23), 1999, pp. 2308-2311
Citations number
19
Categorie Soggetti
Cardiovascular & Respiratory Systems","Cardiovascular & Hematology Research
Background-Failing human myocardium is characterized by abnormal relaxation
, a deficient sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ uptake, and a negative frequ
ency response, which have all been related to a deficiency in the SR Ca2+ A
TPase (SERCA2a) pump.
Methods and Results-To test the hypothesis that an increase in SERCA2a coul
d improve contractile function in cardiomyocytes, we overexpressed SERCA2a
in human ventricular myocytes from 10 patients with end-stage heart failure
and examined intracellular Ca2+ handling and contractile function. Overexp
ression of SERCA2a resulted in an increase in both protein expression and p
ump activity and induced a faster contraction velocity (26.7 +/- 6.7% versu
s 16.6 +/- 2.7% shortening per second, P < 0.005) and enhanced relaxation v
elocity (32.0 +/- 10.1% versus 15.1 +/- 2.4%, P < 0.005). Diastolic Ca2+ wa
s decreased in failing cardiomyocytes overexpressing SERCA2a (270 +/- 26 ve
rsus 347 +/- 30 nmol/L, P < 0.005), whereas systolic Ca2+ was increased (60
1 +/- 38 versus 508 +/- 25 nmol/L, P < 0.05), In addition, the frequency re
sponse was normalized in cardiomyocytes overexpressing SERCA2a.
Conclusions-These results support the premise that gene-based therapies and
targeting of specific pathways in human heart failure may offer a new moda
lity for the treatment of this disease.