Der Herzmuskel muss sich einer dynamischen und sich mechanisch verändernden Umgebung anpassen. Die Mechanosignaltransduktion ermöglicht es Zellen mechanischen Kräfte zu erfassen und durch nachgeschaltete biochemische Signalkaskaden darauf zu reagieren. Obwohl verschiedene Gewebestrukturen und Proteine damit in Verbindung gebracht wurden, wie das Herz die mechanischen Kräfte wahrnimmt, ist unser Verständnis der kardialen Mechanosignaltransduktion unvollständig. Durch Dehnung aktivierte Ionenkanäle spielen eine wichtige Rolle bei der mechanosensitiven Autoregulation des Herzens. Um die funktionelle Rolle von PIEZO1 in Kardiomyozyten zu untersuchen, habe ich daher PIEZO1 in induzierten pluripotenten Stammzellen mittels Genomeditierung deletiert. Die PIEZO1-/- Zellen wurden dann in lebensfähige, herzähnlich schlagende Kardiomyozyten differenziert. In phänotypische Analysen der elektrophysiologischer Eigenschaften, Zellmorphologie und der herzähnlichen Schlagaktivität habe ich den Effekt der PIEZO1-deletion in genomeditierten Kardiomyozyten untersucht. Die Deletion von PIEZO1 zeigte zum ersten Mal, dass es PIEZO1-abhängige dehnungsaktivierte und Kalzium-Ströme in vom Menschen stammenden differenzierten Kardiomyozyten gibt. Dies legt nahe, dass PIEZO1 eine Rolle in der Mechanosignaltransduction in Herzzellen spielt. Darüber hinaus zeigte eine RNA-Sequenz Analyse, dass der Verlust von PIEZO1 in vom Menschen stammenden differenzierten Kardiomyozyten mit der Herunterregulation von Proteinen korreliert, die für die extrazellulärer Matrix von Bedeutung sind. Diese Daten unterstreichen die Rolle von PIEZO1 in Kardiomyozyten und legen seine Bedeutung für die Organisation und Struktur der extrazellulären Matrix nahe. / The cardiac muscle has to adapt in a highly dynamic mechanical environment. Mechanotransduction is the process that allows cells to sense the mechanical forces and respond by downstream biochemical signaling cascades. Although different tissue structures and proteins have been implicated in how the heart senses the mechanical forces, yet our understanding in cardiac mechanotransduction is incomplete. Stretch-activated channels (SACs) have been suggested to play an important role in the mechanosensitive autoregulation of the heart. PIEZO1 is a stretch-activated channel and has been involved in vascularization, erythrocyte volume homeostasis and regulation of the baroreceptor reflex, yet its role in cardiac mechanotransduction has not been described. To study the functional role of PIEZO1 in cardiomyocytes I have generated a PIEZO1 knockout (KO) human induced pluripotent cell (hiPSC) line using genome editing technology. The genome edited cells were then differentiated into viable, beating cardiomyocytes. Different phenotypic analyses were conducted, including the evaluation of electrophysiological characteristics, observation of cell morphology and beating activity of the genome edited hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. With this approach the aim was to gain more insight into PIEZO1 function in cardiomyocytes using a reliable, efficient and reproducible human cellular model system. For the first time PIEZO1-dependent calcium transients and stretch-activated currents were observed in hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs). This proposes a possible role of PIEZO1 as a cardiac mechanotransducer. Furthermore, RNA-seq analysis revealed that loss of PIEZO1 in hiPSC-CMs is associated with downregulation of the expression of extracellular matrix-associated proteins. These data highlight the role of PIEZO1 in cardiomyocytes and suggest its implication in extracellular matrix organization and structure.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Epigenetics is defined as “the study of stable, often heritable, changes that influence gene expression that are not mediated by DNA sequence” (Fingerman et al., 2013). Epigenetic marks such as covalent histone modifications and DNA methylation are important for maintaining chromatin structure and epigenetic inheritance. Several proteins have been found to bind and/ or regulate epigenetic marks. One such protein, CXXC finger protein 1 (Cfp1) is an important chromatin regulator that binds to unmethylated CpG islands. It has been found to be essential for mammalian development. Mice lacking Cfp1 exhibit an embryonic- lethal phenotype. However, the function of Cfp1 can be studied using Cfp1 Null mouse ES cells, which are viable. Thus far, Cfp1 has been shown to be important for cell growth, cytosine methylation, histone modifications, subnuclear localization of Set1A histone H3K4 methyltransferase, and cellular differentiation. When Cfp1 Null ES cells are induced to differentiate by removal of Leukemia Inhibitory Factor (LIF), the cells are not able to turn off pluripotency markers such as Oct4 and alkaline phosphatase and fail to express differentiation markers such as Gata4 and Brachyury. In this study, we used established protocols to further examine the differentiation capacity of Cfp1 Null cells. Specifically, we tested the ability of Cfp1 Null ES cells to retain stem cell properties in the absence of LIF, differentiate into cardiomyocytes in the presence of TGF-β2 and differentiate into neuron precursors in the presence of retinoic acid (RA). While the differentiation effects of RA were inconclusive, Null cells were able to start differentiating in the absence of LIF, either as individual cells or EBs, and the presence of TGF-β2 when seeded on gelatin coated tissue culture dishes. However, no difference was seen between cells treated without LIF and those treated with TGF-β2. In both conditions, only a small portion of cells were able to differentiate, while the majority of the cell population retained stem cell characteristics. Cell growth and the differentiation capacity of Cfp1 Null cells were also compromised in comparison to WT cells. Thus, further supporting the need for the correct epigenetic patterns maintained by Cfp1 during cellular differentiation.

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[ES] Las intervenciones actuales utilizadas en el ámbito clínico durante el infarto agudo de miocardio (IAM) se centran en la revascularización de la zona isquémica. Entre dichas estrategias, la angioplastia coronaria, procedimiento por el cual se utiliza un catéter para desobstruir la arteria ocluida, es el método más utilizado. Sin embargo, se ha descrito este proceso (conocido como reperfusión) desencadena un daño adicional en el miocardio, por lo que la combinación de dicha intervención con moléculas cardioprotectoras resulta de gran interés para tratar de reducir el tamaño del infarto. El presente trabajo propone dos nuevas moléculas con el fin de precondicionar el área isquémica antes de la reperfusión en el contexto del IAM. La primera estrategia propuesta se ha basado en el aporte de un ácido graso (diDHA) en la zona isquémica antes de la reperfusión para tratar de reducir el estrés de los cardiomiocitos y el número de células muertas antes de la reperfusión. Además, se han sintetizado nanoconjugados basados en la unión covalente de diDHA a un unido covalentemente a un esqueleto polimérico (ácido poli-L-glutámico, PGA) con el fin de incrementar la estabilidad del diDHA y conseguir una liberación controlada de la molécula. Los resultados obtenidos mostraron que la formulación PGA-diDHA6.4 fue la más optimizada, mostrando un mejor efecto en el precondicionamiento de los cardiomiocitos antes de la reperfusión en términos de reducción de apoptosis, generación de especies reactivas de oxígeno y mantenimiento de la función mitocondrial in vitro. Además, dicho nanoconjugado también mostró un modesto efecto terapéutico cuando se administró en modelos in vivo de isquemia-reperfusión en ratas y cerdos, reduciendo el tamaño final de infarto respecto a los grupos control. La segunda estrategia terapéutica propuesta se ha centrado en aumentar el potencial terapéutico de las vesículas celulares de pequeño tamaño (SEV o exosomas) procedentes de medio condicionado de células madre estromales (MSC). Numerosos estudios han descrito el papel terapéutico de factores paracrinos secretados por las MSC, donde se incluyen tanto factores solubles como vesículas extracelulares (EV) y, en especial, SEV. Diversas estrategias, como la modificación genética o precondicionamiento de estas células, han sido utilizadas para aumentar el potencial terapéutico de las mismas. En este trabajo se ha propuesto la modificación genética de las MSC con el objetivo de enriquecer las SEV en proteínas de interés que pudiesen potenciar el efecto terapéutico de las SEV nativas. En base a estudios previos, donde se ha visto que la oncostatina-M (OSM) podría jugar un papel anti-fibrótico en el contexto del IAM, se decidió incorporar dicha proteína en la superficie de las SEV derivadas de MSC mediante su fusión con proteínas presentes de forma natural en la superficie de las SEV, con el objetivo de desencadenar una respuesta en las células diana. La modificación de la secuencia de la OSM y su fusión con la tetraspanina CD81 permitieron cargar de manera efectiva la OSM en la superficie de las SEV, y los resultados preliminares en fibroblastos ventriculares cardíacos mostraron un efecto funcional beneficioso con respecto a los SEV control y los enriquecidos en CD81, reduciendo la tasa de proliferación de las células en condiciones de ayuno, y modificando la expresión y la liberación de la proteína telo-Col1α1 en las células después de ser estimuladas con TGFβ-1, α-dextrano y ácido ascórbico-L-sulfato En resumen, dos nuevas estrategias terapéuticas avanzadas libres de células han sido propuestas en el presente trabajo, donde se han mostrado resultados preliminares prometedores para reducir el daño en el miocardio tras el IAM en términos de reducción de apoptosis de cardiomiocitos y de activación de fibroblastos car / [CA] Les intervencions actuals utilitzades en l'àmbit clínic durant l'infart agut de miocardi (IAM) se centren en la revascularització de la zona isquèmica. Entre aquestes estratègies, l'angioplàstia coronària, procediment pel qual s'utilitza un catèter per a desobstruir l'artèria oclosa, és el procés més utilitzat. No obstant això, s'ha descrit que aquest procés (conegut com a reperfusió) desencadena un mal addicional en el miocardi. En conseqüència, la combinació d'aquesta intervenció amb molècules cardioprotectores resulta de gran interés per a tractar de reduir la grandària de l'infart. El present treball proposa dues noves molècules amb potencial cardioprotector en el context del IAM. Com a primera estratègia terapèutica, s'ha proposat l'aportació d'un àcid gras (diDHA) a la zona isquèmica del miocardio abans de la reperfusió per a tractar de reduir l'estrés dels cardiomiocitos i el nombre de cèl·lules mortes abans de la reperfusió. A més, s'han sintetitzat nanoconjugats basats en la unió covalent de diDHA a un esquelet polimèric (àcid poli-L-glutàmic, PGA) amb la finalitat d'incrementar l'estabilitat del diDHA i aconseguir un alliberament controlat de la molècula. Els resultats obtinguts van mostrar que la formulació PGA-diDHA6.4 va ser la més efectiva, mostrant un millor efecte en el precondicionament dels cardiomiocitos abans de la reperfusió en termes de reducció d'apoptosi, generació d'espècies reactives d'oxigen i manteniment de la funció mitocondrial in vitro. A més, el nanoconjugat PGA-diDHA6.4 també va mostrar un modest efecte terapèutic quan es va administrar en models in vivo d'isquèmia-reperfusió en rates i porcs, reduint la grandària final d'infart respecte als grups control. La segona estratègia proposada s'ha centrat en potenciar l'efect terapèutic de vesícules extracelul·lars de xicoteta grandària (SEV o exosomes) que son secretades per cèl·lules mare estromales. Nombrosos estudis han descrit el paper terapèutic de factors paracrinos secretats per les MSC, on s'inclouen tant factors solubles com vesícules extracelul·lars (EV) i, especialment, les SEV. Diverses estratègies, com la modificació genètica o el precondicionament de les MSC, s'han estudiat per augmentar el potencial terapèutic d'aquestes cèl·lules. En aquest treball, es va pensar en la modificació genètica de les MSC amb l'objectiu d'enriquir les SEV en proteïnes d'interés que pogueren potenciar l'efecte terapèutic de les SEV natives. Sobre la base d'estudis previs, on s'ha vist que la oncostatina-M (OSM) podria jugar un paper anti-fibròtic en el context del IAM, es va decidir incorporar aquesta proteïna en la superfície de les SEV derivades de MSC mitjançant la seua fusió amb proteïnes presents de manera natural en la superfície de les SEV, amb l'objectiu de desencadenar una resposta en les cèl·lules diana. La modificació de la seqüència de la OSM i la seua fusió amb la tetraspanina CD81 van permetre carregar de manera efectiva la OSM en la superfície de les SEV, i els resultats preliminars en fibroblastos ventriculars cardíacs van mostrar un efecte funcional respecte als SEV control i els enriquits en CD81, reduint la taxa de proliferació de les cèl·lules en condicions de dejuni, i modificant l'expressió i la secreció de la proteïna telo-Col1α1 en les cèl·lules després de ser estimulades amb TGFβ-1, α-dextran i àcid ascòrbic-L-sulfat, simulant una activació dels fibroblastos in vitro. En resum, dues noves estratègies terapèutiques avançades lliures de cèl·lules han sigut proposades en el present treball, on s'han mostrat resultats preliminars prometedors per a reduir el mal en el miocardi després del IAM en termes de reducció d'apoptosi de cardiomiocitos i d'activació de fibroblastos cardíacs. / [EN] Current therapeutic approaches against acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are focused on myocardial ischemic zone revascularization. The most common strategy is called primary angioplasty, in which a catheter is introduced to unblock the affected artery and restore blood flux, in a process called reperfusion. Nevertheless, an additional injury on cardiac tissue is caused after reperfusion, and the combination of primary angioplasty with the use of cardioprotective molecules has emerged as a potential strategy to reduce cardiac tissue injury. Two new cell-free therapeutic strategies to preconditionate myocardial ischemic area before reperfusion have been proposed to reduce cardiac injury after AMI. The first therapeutic strategy proposed consisted on the input of a free fatty acid (di-docosahexaenoic acid, diDHA) covalently bound to a polymeric backbone (poly-L-glutamic acid, PGA) in order to increase diDHA solubility and stability and modulate its effect on target cells. Results showed that PGA-diDHA6.4 conjugate administration during ischemia protected cardiomyocytes from reperfusion-induced injury, as apoptotic number of cells and oxidative stress was reduced, and mitochondrial function was less affected when compared to untreated cells. In addition to this, PGA-diDHA6.4 also showed therapeutic effects when locally administered in an ischemia-reperfusion in vivo model in rats and pigs, where a modest reduction of area at risk was observed compared to control groups. The second cell-free strategy proposed in this work was focused on enhancing the therapeutic potential of small extracellular vesicles (SEV or exosomes) isolated form mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) conditioned media. Previous studies have described the therapeutic potential of paracrine factors released by MSC, where both soluble factors and vesicular components are included. In particular, SEV have gained special attention. Several stretegies, such as genetic modification or cell preconditioning, have been tested to enhance the MSC therapeutic potential. In this work, it was proposed MSC genetic modification in order to load proteins of interest on SEV and potentiate its native therapeutic potential. Based on previous findings, where it has been described a potential anti-fibrotic role of oncostatin-M (OSM) in AMI context, we decided to incorporate OSM on SEV surface by its fusion to CD81 tetraspanin, a protein naturally loaded on SEV surface, in order to trigger functional effects on target cells. OSM sequence modification was necessary in order to load the protein on SEV surface efficiently, and preliminary data showed that modified OSM-CD81 loaded on SEV had a functional effect on human ventricular cardiac fibroblasts. Concretely, decrease of proliferation rate after starvation and telo-Collagen1α1 location pattern modification was observed after stimulation with a pro-fibrotic cocktail (containing TGFβ-1, α-dextran and ascorbic-L-acid sulphate) in vitro when cells were treated with modified OSM-CD81- SEV compared to ctrl and CD81-loaded SEV treatments. Overall, two new advanced cell-free therapies with preliminary promising results have been proposed in order to reduce myocardial injury after AMI in terms of cardiomyocytes apoptosis reduction and fibrosis mitigation. / Tejedor Gascón, S. (2021). Development of new advanced therapies to mitigate ischemia-reperfusion-induced injury during acute myocardial infarction [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/171487

Cardiovascular diseases are among the leading causes of death worldwide and particularly in the developed World. The search for new therapeutic approaches for improving the functions of the damaged heart is therefore a critical endeavour. Myocardial infarction, which can lead to heart failure, is associated with irreversible loss of functional cardiomyocytes. The loss of cardiomyocytes poses a major difficulty for treating the damaged heart since terminally differentiated cardiomyocytes have very limited regeneration potential. Currently, the only effective treatment for severe heart failure is heart transplantation but this option is limited by the acute shortage of donor hearts. The high incidence of heart diseases and the scarcity donor hearts underline the urgent need to find alternative therapeutic approaches for treating cardiovascular diseases. Pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells can differentiate into functional cardiomyocytes. Therefore the engraftment of ES cell-derived functional cardiomyocytes or cardiac progenitor cells into the damaged heart to regenerate healthy myocardial tissues may be used to treat damaged hearts. Stem cell-based therapy therefore holds a great potential as a very attractive alternative to heart transplant for treating heart failure and other cardiovascular diseases. A major obstacle to the realisation of stem cell-based therapy is the lack of donor cells and this in turn is due to the fact that, currently, the molecular mechanisms or the regulatory signal transduction mechanisms that are responsible for mediating ES cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes are not well understood. Overcoming this huge scientific challenge is absolutely necessary before the use of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes to treat the damaged heart can become a reality. Therefore the aim of this thesis was to investigate the signal transduction pathways that are involved in the differentiation of stem cells into cardiomyocytes. The first objective was the establishment and use of cardiomyocyte differentiation models using H9c2 cells and P19 stem cells to accomplish the specific objectives of the thesis. The specific objectives of the thesis were, the investigation of the roles of (i) nitric oxide (ii) protein kinase C (PKC), (iii) p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) (vi) phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and (vi) nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB) signalling pathways in the differentiation of stem cells to cardiomyocytes and, more importantly, to identify where possible any points of convergence and potential cross-talk between pathways that may be critical for differentiation to occur. P19 cells were routinely cultured in alpha minimal essential medium (α-MEM) supplemented with 100 units/ml penicillin /100 μg/ml streptomycin and 10% foetal bovine serum (FBS). P19 cell differentiation was initiated by culturing the cells in microbiological plates in medium containing 0.8 % DMSO to form embryoid bodies (EB). This was followed by transfer of EBs to cell culture grade dishes after four days. H9c2 cells were cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% FBS. Differentiation was initiated by incubating the cells in medium containing 1% FBS. In both models, when drugs were employed, they were added to cells for one hour prior to initiating differentiation. Cell monolayers were monitored daily over a period of 12 or 14 days. H9c2 cells were monitored for morphological changes and P19 cells were monitored for beating cardiomyocytes. Lysates were generated in parallel for western blot analysis of changes in cardiac myosin heavy chain (MHC), ventricular myosin chain light chain 1(MLC-1v) or troponin I (cTnI) using specific monoclonal antibodies. H9c2 cells cultured in 1% serum underwent differentiation as shown by the timedependent formation of myotubes, accompanied by a parallel increase in expression of both MHC and MLC-1v. These changes were however not apparent until 4 to 6 days after growth arrest and increased with time, reaching a peak at day 12 to 14. P19 stem cells cultured in DMSO containing medium differentiated as shown by the timedependent appearance of beating cardiomyocytes and this was accompanied by the expression of cTnI. The differentiation of both P19 stem cells and H9c2 into cardiomyocytes was blocked by the PI3K inhibitor LY294002, PKC inhibitor BIM-I and the p38 MAPK inhibitor SB2035800. However when LY294002, BIM-I or SB2035800 were added after the initiation of DMSO-induced P19 stem cell differentiation, each inhibitor failed to block the cell differentiation into beating cardiomyocytes. The NF-kB activation inhibitor, CAPE, blocked H9c2 cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes. Fast nitric oxide releasing donors (SIN-1 and NOC-5) markedly delayed the onset of differentiation of H9c2 cells into cardiomyocytes while slow nitric oxide releasing donors (SNAP and NOC-18) were less effective in delaying the onset of differentiation or long term differentiation of H9c2 cells into cardiomyocytes. Akt (protein kinase B) is the key downstream target of PI3K. Our cross-talk data also showed that PKC inhibition and p38 MAPK inhibition respectively enhanced and reduced the activation of Akt, as determined by the phosphorylation of Akt at serine residue 473. In conclusion, PKC, PI3K, p38 MAPK and NF-kB are relevant for the differentiation of stem cells into cardiomyocytes. Our data also show that the PKC, PI3K and p38 MAPK signalling pathways are activated as very early events during the differentiation of stem cells into cardiomyocytes. Our data also suggest that PKC may negatively regulate Akt activation while p38 MAPK inhibition inhibits Akt activation. Our fast NO releasing donor data suggest that nitric oxide may negatively regulate H9c2 cell differentiation.