Dose limiting cardiotoxicity remains a major limiting factor in the clinical use of several cancer chemotherapeutics including anthracyclines and the antimetabolite 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Prior work has demonstrated that chemotherapeutics increase expression of R7 family regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) protein-binding partner Gβ5, which drives myocyte cytotoxicity. However, though several R7 family members are expressed in heart, the exact role of each protein in chemotherapy driven heart damage remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that RGS11, downregulated in the human heart following chemotherapy exposure, possesses potent anti-apoptotic actions, in direct opposition to the actions of fellow R7 family member RGS6. RGS11 forms a direct complex with the apoptotic kinase CaMKII and stress responsive transcription factor ATF3 and acts to counterbalance the ability of CaMKII and ATF3 to trigger oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, cell death, and release of the cardiokine neuregulin-1 (NRG1), which mediates pathological intercommunication between myocytes and endothelial cells. Doxorubicin triggers RGS11 depletion in the murine myocardium, and cardiac-specific OE of RGS11 decreases doxorubicin-induced fibrosis, myocyte hypertrophy, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and cell loss and aids in the maintenance of left ventricular function. Conversely, RGS11 knockdown in heart promotes cardiac fibrosis associated with CaMKII activation and ATF3/NRG1 induction. Indeed, inhibition of CaMKII largely prevents the fibrotic remodeling resulting from cardiac RGS11 depletion underscoring the functional importance of the RGS11-CaMKII interaction in the pathogenesis of cardiac fibrosis. These data describe an entirely new role for RGS11 in heart and identify RGS11 as a potential new target for amelioration of chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity.
Keywords: Cardiotoxicity; Cell death; Chemotherapy; Oxidative stress; RGS proteins.
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