Intermittent hypoxia mediated by TSP1 dependent on STAT3 induces cardiac fibroblast activation and cardiac fibrosis
- The Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, China
- Peking University People's Hospital, China
Abstract
Intermittent hypoxia (IH) is the predominant pathophysiological disturbance in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), known to be independently associated with cardiovascular diseases. However, the effect of IH on cardiac fibrosis and molecular events involved in this process are unclear. Here, we tested IH in angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced cardiac fibrosis and signaling linked to fibroblast activation. IH triggered cardiac fibrosis and aggravated Ang II-induced cardiac dysfunction in mice. Plasma thrombospondin-1 (TSP1) content was upregulated in both IH-exposed mice and OSA patients. Moreover, both in vivo and in vitro results showed IH-induced cardiac fibroblast activation and increased TSP1 expression in cardiac fibroblasts. Mechanistically, phosphorylation of STAT3 at Tyr705 mediated the IH-induced TSP1 expression and fibroblast activation. Finally, STAT3 inhibitor S3I-201 or AAV9 carrying a periostin promoter driving the expression of shRNA targeting Stat3 significantly attenuated the synergistic effects of IH and Ang II on cardiac fibrosis in mice. This work suggests a potential therapeutic strategy for OSA-related fibrotic heart disease.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files have been provided for Figures 1 to 6.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Natural Science Foundation of China (81800251)
- Qiankun Bao
National Natural Science Foundation of China (81570304)
- Guangping Li
National Natural Science Foundation of China (21800297)
- Yue Zhang
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: Animal procedures were approved and conducted in accordance with the Experimental Animal Administration Committee of Tianjin Medical University (Permit Number: SYXK 2011-0006; SYXK 2016-0012).
Human subjects: Ethical approval was obtained through the institutional ethical review board of Peking University People's Hospital (Permit Number: 2018PHB210-01). The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was taken from all study participants.
Copyright
© 2020, Bao et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
Metrics
-
- 2,179
- views
-
- 333
- downloads
-
- 44
- citations
Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.
Download links
A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.
Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)
Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)
Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)
Intermittent hypoxia mediated by TSP1 dependent on STAT3 induces cardiac fibroblast activation and cardiac fibrosis
eLife 9:e49923.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.49923
Further reading
-
- Cell Biology
- Medicine
In pulmonary hypertension, a combination of metabolic and mechanical dysfunction leads to irreversible vascular damage.
-
- Cell Biology
- Medicine
Background:
Pulmonary vascular remodeling is a progressive pathological process characterized by functional alterations within pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) and adventitial fibroblasts (PAAFs). Mechanisms driving the transition to a diseased phenotype remain elusive.
Methods:
We combined transcriptomic and proteomic profiling with phenotypic characterization of source-matched cells from healthy controls and individuals with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH). Bidirectional cellular crosstalk was examined using direct and indirect co-culture models, and phenotypic responses were assessed via transcriptome analysis.
Results:
PASMC and PAAF undergo distinct phenotypic shifts during pulmonary vascular remodeling, with limited shared features, such as reduced mitochondrial content and hyperpolarization. IPAH-PASMC exhibit increased glycosaminoglycan production and downregulation of contractile machinery, while IPAH-PAAF display a hyperproliferative phenotype. We identified alterations in extracellular matrix components, including laminin and collagen, alongside pentraxin-3 and hepatocyte growth factor, as potential regulators of PASMC phenotypic transitions mediated by PAAF.
Conclusions:
While PASMCs and PAAFs retain their core cellular identities, they acquire distinct disease-associated states. These findings provide new insights into the dynamic interplay of pulmonary vascular mesenchymal cells in disease pathogenesis.
Funding:
This work was supported by Cardio-Pulmonary Institute EXC 2026 390649896 (GK) and Austrian Science Fund (FWF) grant I 4651-B (SC).
