O-GlcNAcylation-induced GSK-3β activation deteriorates pressure overload-induced heart failure via lack of compensatory cardiac hypertrophy in mice

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023 Mar 22:14:1122125. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1122125. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) modulates many functions of proteins via O-GlcNAcylation that adds O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) to the serine/threonine residues of proteins. However, the role of O-GlcNAcylation in cardiac remodeling and function is not fully understood. To examine the effect of O-GlcNAcylation on pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy and subsequent heart failure, transverse aortic constriction (TAC) surgery was performed in wild type (WT) and Ogt transgenic (Ogt-Tg) mice. Four weeks after TAC (TAC4W), the heart function of Ogt-Tg mice was significantly lower than that of WT mice (reduced fractional shortening and increased ANP levels). The myocardium of left ventricle (LV) in Ogt-Tg mice became much thinner than that in WT mice. Moreover, compared to the heart tissues of WT mice, O-GlcNAcylation of GSK-3β at Ser9 was increased and phosphorylation of GSK-3β at Ser9 was reduced in the heart tissues of Ogt-Tg mice, resulting in its activation and subsequent inactivation of nuclear factor of activated T cell (NFAT) activity. Finally, the thinned LV wall and reduced cardiac function induced by TAC4W in Ogt-Tg mice was reversed by the treatment of a GSK-3β inhibitor, TDZD-8. These results imply that augmented O-GlcNAcylation exacerbates pressure overload-induced heart failure due to a lack of compensatory cardiac hypertrophy via O-GlcNAcylation of GSK-3β, which deprives the phosphorylation site of GSK-3β to constantly inactivate NFAT activity to prevent cardiac hypertrophy. Our findings may provide a new therapeutic strategy for cardiac hypertrophy and subsequent heart failure.

Keywords: GSK-3β; O-GlcNAcylation; heart failure; hypertrophy; transverse aortic constriction (TAC).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cardiomegaly / etiology
  • Cardiomegaly / metabolism
  • Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta
  • Heart
  • Heart Failure* / etiology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic

Substances

  • Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta

Grants and funding

This study was partially supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) no. 17590249 (MA) and JP17K15583 (SY) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and under the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, Sports and Technology of Japan.