2. Academic Validation
  3. MG53 protects against septic cardiac dysfunction by ubiquitinating ATF2

MG53 protects against septic cardiac dysfunction by ubiquitinating ATF2

  • J Adv Res. 2025 Mar 17:S2090-1232(25)00191-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jare.2025.03.031.
Miao Tian 1,  Yu Shi 1,  Xue Gong 1,  Wenjie Tan 1,  Xinyi Guo 1,  Yinghong Chen 1,  Peili Yang 1,  Hongmei Ren 1,  Qi Cai 1,  Jianjie Ma 2,  Chunyu Zeng 3,  Gengze Wu 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Cardiology, Daping Hospital, The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China; Key Laboratory of Geriatric Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease Research, Ministry of Education of China, Chongqing, PR China; Chongqing Key Laboratory for Hypertension Research, Chongqing Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center, Chongqing Institute of Cardiology, Chongqing, PR China.
  • 2 Department of Surgery, Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
  • 3 Department of Cardiology, Daping Hospital, The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China; Key Laboratory of Geriatric Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease Research, Ministry of Education of China, Chongqing, PR China; Chongqing Key Laboratory for Hypertension Research, Chongqing Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center, Chongqing Institute of Cardiology, Chongqing, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Daping Hospital, The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China; Cardiovascular Research Center of Chongqing College, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, PR China; Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, PR China. Electronic address: zengchunyu@tmmu.edu.cn.
  • 4 Department of Cardiology, Daping Hospital, The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China; Key Laboratory of Geriatric Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease Research, Ministry of Education of China, Chongqing, PR China; Chongqing Key Laboratory for Hypertension Research, Chongqing Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center, Chongqing Institute of Cardiology, Chongqing, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Daping Hospital, The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, PR China. Electronic address: wugengze@tmmu.edu.cn.
PMID: 40107350 DOI: 10.1016/j.jare.2025.03.031
Abstract

Introduction: Septic cardiac dysfunction (SCD) is the most common complication of sepsis, which has become the primary cause of death in intensive care units. The muscle-specific protein mitsugumin-53 (MG53) has been identified to protect cell integrity as a "Molecular Band-Aid".

Objectives: The recombinant human MG53 (rhMG53) pretreatment has been reported to prevent cardiac function damage caused by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). However, whether or not MG53 protects against SCD remains to be further clarified.

Methods: C57BL/6J mice were intraperitoneally injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to generate the SCD model. MG53 was overexpressed by intravenously injected adeno-associated virus, and the rhMG53 was administrated intraperitoneally. The cardiac function was evaluated by echocardiography, and the cardiac inflammation was assessed through ELISA and Western blot. The mechanisms of MG53 were studied by quantitative Real-Time PCR (qPCR) and co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP).

Results: Our present study found that MG53 expression was lower in hearts from SCD mice than controls. Overexpression or exogenous MG53 treatment alleviated cardiac dysfunction, improved survival rate in SCD mice, accompanied with improved pathological changes, reduced cardiomyocyte Apoptosis, and lowered inflammatory factor levels in serum or hearts. Mechanistically, MG53 inhibited TLR4 transcriptional activity by ubiquitinating ATF2, an essential transcriptional factor for TLR4, which ultimately reduced the expression of TLR4.

Conclusion: MG53 protect the cardiac function against sepsis by down-regulation of TLR4 expression, via ubiquitination of ATF2, a TLR4 transcriptional factor, which might be a promising therapeutic approach for septic cardiac dysfunction.

Keywords

ATF2; Apoptosis; Inflammation; MG53; Septic cardiac dysfunction; TLR4.

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