Physiol. Genomics 32: 182-189, 2008.
First published October 30, 2007; doi:10.1152/physiolgenomics.00200.2007
1094-8341/08 $8.00
Received 31 August 2007;
accepted in final form 23 October 2007.
Physiological Genomics 32:182-189 (2008)
1094-8341/08 $8.00 © 2008 American Physiological Society
Identification of Nogo as a novel indicator of heart failure
Tara A. Bullard1,
Tricia L. Protack1,
Frédérick Aguilar1,
Suveer Bagwe1,
H. Todd Massey2 and
Burns C. Blaxall1
1 Cardiovascular Research Institute, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine
2 Department of Surgery, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York
Numerous genetically engineered animal models of heart failure (HF) exhibit multiple characteristics of human HF, including aberrant β-adrenergic signaling. Several of these HF models can be rescued by cardiac-targeted expression of the Gβ
inhibitory carboxy-terminus of the β-adrenergic receptor kinase (βARKct). We recently reported microarray analysis of gene expression in multiple animal models of HF and their βARKct rescue, where we identified gene expression patterns distinct and predictive of HF and rescue. We have further investigated the muscle LIM protein knockout model of HF (MLP–/–), which closely parallels human dilated cardiomyopathy disease progression and aberrant β-adrenergic signaling, and their βARKct rescue. A group of known and novel genes was identified and validated by quantitative real-time PCR whose expression levels predicted phenotype in both the larger HF group and in the MLP–/– subset. One of these novel genes is herein identified as Nogo, a protein widely studied in the nervous system, where it plays a role in regeneration. Nogo expression is altered in HF and normalized with rescue, in an isoform-specific manner, using left ventricular tissue harvested from both animal and human subjects. To investigate cell type-specific expression of Nogo in the heart, immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy were utilized. Nogo expression appears to be most clearly associated with cardiac fibroblasts. To our knowledge, this is the first report to demonstrate the relationship between Nogo expression and HF, including cell-type specificity, in both mouse and human HF and phenotypic rescue.
microarray; myocardium; cardiovascular disease; muscle LIM protein; gene expression profiling
Copyright © 2008 by the American Physiological Society.