Background: A20 was originally characterized as a tumor necrosis factor-inducible gene in human umbilical vein endothelial cells. As an inhibitor of nuclear factor-kappaB signaling, A20 protects against apoptosis, inflammation, and cardiac hypertrophy. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that cardiac-specific overexpression of A20 could protect the heart from myocardial infarction.
Methods and results: We investigated the role of constitutive human A20 expression in acute myocardial infarction using a transgenic model. Transgenic mice containing the human A20 gene under the control of the alpha-myosin heavy chain promoter were constructed. Myocardial infarction was produced by coronary ligation in A20 transgenic mice and control animals. The extent of infarction was then quantified by 2-dimensional and M-mode echocardiography and by molecular and pathological analyses of heart samples in infarct and remote heart regions 7 days after myocardial infarction. Constitutive overexpression of A20 in the murine heart resulted in attenuated infarct size and improved cardiac function 7 days after myocardial infarction. Significantly, we found a decrease in nuclear factor-kappaB signaling and apoptosis, as well as proinflammatory response, cardiac remodeling, and interstitial fibrosis, in noninfarct regions in the hearts of constitutive A20-expressing animals compared with control animals.
Conclusions: Cardiac-specific overexpression of A20 improves cardiac function and inhibits cardiac remodeling, apoptosis, inflammation, and fibrosis after acute myocardial infarction.