Characterization of a novel cardiac isoform of the cell cycle-related kinase that is regulated during heart failure.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is often followed by heart failure (HF), but the mechanisms precipitating the transition to HF remain largely unknown. A genomic profile was performed in a monkey model of MI, from the myocardium adjacent to chronic (2-month) MI followed by 3 weeks of pacing to develop HF. The ...
transcript of the gene encoding the cell cycle-related kinase (CCRK) was down-regulated by 50% in HF heart compared with control (p<0.05), which was confirmed by quantitative PCR. The CCRK sequence cloned from a heart library showed a conservation of the N-terminal kinase domain when compared with the "generic" isoform cloned previously but a different C-terminal half due to alternative splicing with frameshift. The homology of the cardiac sequence was 100% between mice and humans. Expression of the corresponding protein, measured upon generation of a monoclonal antibody, was limited to heart, liver, and kidney. Upon overexpression in cardiac myocytes, both isoforms promote cell growth and reduce apoptosis by chelerythrine (p<0.05 versus control). Using a yeast two-hybrid screening, we found an interaction of the generic but not the cardiac CCRK with cyclin H and casein kinase 2. In addition, only the generic CCRK phosphorylates the cyclin-dependent kinase 2, which was accompanied by a doubling of myocytes in the S and G(2) phases of the cell cycle (p < 0.05 versus control). Therefore, the heart expresses a splice variant of CCRK, which promotes cardiac cell growth and survival; differs from the generic isoform in terms of protein-protein interactions, substrate specificity and regulation of the cell cycle; and is down-regulated significantly in HF.
Mesh Terms:
Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Base Sequence, Cell Proliferation, Cell Survival, Cells, Cultured, Cloning, Molecular, Cyclin-Dependent Kinases, Disease Models, Animal, Heart Failure, Isoenzymes, Macaca fascicularis, Male, Mice, Molecular Sequence Data, Myocardium, Protein Binding, Rats, Rats, Wistar, Sequence Alignment, Substrate Specificity
J. Biol. Chem.
Date: Aug. 08, 2008
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