Macrophage-Stimulated Cardiac Fibroblast Production of IL-6 Is Essential for TGF β/Smad Activation and Cardiac Fibrosis Induced by Angiotensin II

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is an important cytokine participating in multiple biologic activities in immune regulation and inflammation. IL-6 has been associated with cardiovascular remodeling. However, the mechanism of IL-6 in hypertensive cardiac fibrosis is still unclear. Angiotensin II (Ang II) infusion in mice increased IL-6 expression in the heart. IL-6 knockout (IL-6-/-) reduced Ang II-induced cardiac fibrosis: 1) Masson trichrome staining showed that Ang II infusion significantly increased fibrotic areas of the wild-type mouse heart, which was greatly suppressed in IL-6-/- mice and 2) immunohistochemistry staining showed decreased expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and collagen I in IL-6-/- mouse heart. The baseline mRNA expression of IL-6 in cardiac fibroblasts was low and was absent in cardiomyocytes or macrophages; however, co-culture of cardiac fibroblasts with macrophages significantly increased IL-6 production and expression of α-SMA and collagen I in fibroblasts. Moreover, TGF-β1 expression and phosphorylation of TGF-β downstream signal Smad3 was stimulated by co-culture of macrophages with cardiac fibroblasts, while IL-6 neutralizing antibody decreased TGF-β1 expression and Smad3 phosphorylation in co-culture of macrophage and fibroblast. Taken together, our results indicate that macrophages stimulate cardiac fibroblasts to produce IL-6, which leads to TGF-β1 production and Smad3 phosphorylation in cardiac fibroblasts and thus stimulates cardiac fibrosis

Cardiomyocyte-specific inactivation of thyroid hormone in pathologic ventricular hypertrophy: an adaptative response or part of the problem?

Recent studies in various rodent models of pathologic ventricular hypertrophy report the re-expression of deiodinase type 3 (D3) in cardiomyocytes. D3 inactivates thyroid hormone (T3) and is mainly expressed in tissues during development. The stimulation of D3 activity in ventricular hypertrophy and subsequent heart failure is associated with severe impairment of cardiac T3 signaling. Hypoxia-induced signaling appears to drive D3 expression in the hypertrophic cardiomyocyte, but other signaling cascades implicated in hypertrophy are also capable of stimulating transcription of the DIO3 gene. Many cardiac genes are transcriptionally regulated by T3 and impairment of T3 signaling will not only reduce energy turnover, but also lead to changes in gene expression that contribute to contractile dysfunction in pathologic remodeling. Whether stimulation of D3 activity and the ensuing local T3-deficiency is an adaptive response of the stressed heart or part of the pathologic signaling network leading to heart failure, remains to be established

Human TFIIIA alone is sufficient to prevent nucleosomal repression of a homologous 5S gene.

Plasmid DNA harbouring the human 5S rRNA gene was assembled into nucleosomes using either Xenopus S150 extracts or purified core histones in the presence of pectin. In both cases reconstitution of nucleosomes led to a complete repression of transcription. This repression could be efficiently counteracted by preincubating the template DNA with highly purified hTFIIIA which allowed the protein to bind to the ICR of the 5S gene. By using an efficient and well-defined in vitro reconstitution system based on isolated core histones in the presence of pectin, which is devoid of endogenous transcription factors, we demonstrate here for the first time that human TFIIIA alone is sufficient to prevent nucleosomal repression of h5S gene transcription and that additional pol III transcription factors are not required to achieve this effect. Additionally, we investigated the binding of hTFIIIA to a mononucleosome reconstituted on the human 5S gene. DNAse I footprinting experiments reveal that the entire ICR of the human 5S gene is covered by the nucleosome, thereby precluding the subsequent binding of human TFIIIA to the promoter of the 5S gene