Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 8 pp 7380—7396
Activated CD4+ T cells-derived exosomal miR-142-3p boosts post-ischemic ventricular remodeling by activating myofibroblast
- 1 Department of Cardiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Hongkou District, Shanghai 201620, China
- 2 Institute of Translational Medicine, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200080, China
- 3 Department of Cardiology, Shanghai Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200080, China
Received: October 18, 2019 Accepted: February 4, 2020 Published: April 23, 2020
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.103084How to Cite
Copyright © 2020 Cai et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Cardiac fibrosis is a primary phenotype of cardiac remodeling that contributes to cardiac dysfunction and heart failure. The expansion and activation of CD4+ T cells in the heart has been identified to facilitate pathological cardiac remodeling and dysfunction; however, the underlying mechanisms remained not well clarified. Herein, we found that exosomes derived from activated CD4+ T cells (CD4-activated Exos) evoked pro-fibrotic effects of cardiac fibroblasts, and their delivery into the heart aggravated cardiac fibrosis and dysfunction post-infarction. Mechanistically, miR-142-3p that was enriched in CD4-activated Exos recapitulated the pro-fibrotic effects of CD4-activated Exos in cardiac fibroblasts, and vice versa. Furthermore, miR-142-3p directly targeted and inhibited the expression of Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC), a negative WNT signaling pathway regulator, contributing to the activation of WNT signaling pathway and cardiac fibroblast activation. Thus, CD4-activated Exos promote post-ischemic cardiac fibrosis through exosomal miR-142-3p-WNT signaling cascade-mediated activation of myofibroblasts. Targeting miR-142-3p in CD4-activated Exos may hold promise for treating cardiac remodeling post-MI.