G protein inactivator RGS6 mediates myocardial cell apoptosis and cardiomyopathy caused by doxorubicin
Menée à l'aide de modèles murins, cette étude met en évidence l'intérêt d'une stratégie visant à inhiber la protéine RGS6 pour minimiser la toxicité cardiaque induite par la doxorubicine
Clinical use of the widely used chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin is limited by life-threatening cardiotoxicity. The mechanisms underlying Dox-induced cardiomyopathy and heart failure remain unclear, but are thought to involve p53-mediated myocardial cell apoptosis. The tripartite G protein inactivating protein RGS6 has been implicated in reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, ATM/p53 activation and apoptosis in Dox-treated cells. Thus, we hypothesized that RGS6, the expression of which is enriched in cardiac tissue, might also be responsible for the pathological effects of Dox treatment in heart. In this study, we show that RGS6 expression is induced strongly by Dox in the ventricles of mice and isolated ventricular myocytes (VCM) via a post-transcriptional mechanism. While Dox-treated wild type (WT) mice manifested severe left ventricular dysfunction, loss of heart and body mass, along with decreased survival five days after Dox administration, mice lacking RGS6 were completely protected against these pathogenic responses. Activation of ATM/p53-apoptosis signaling by Dox in ventricles of WT mice was also absent in their RGS6-/- counterparts. Dox-induced ROS generation was dramatically impaired in both the ventricles and VCM isolated from RGS6-/- mice, and the apoptotic response to Dox in VCM required RGS6-dependent ROS production. These results identify RGS6 as an essential mediator of the pathogenic responses to Dox in heart, and they argue that RGS6 inhibition offers a rational means to circumvent Dox cardiotoxicity in human cancer patients.