Little is known about the right ventricular (RV) proteome in human heart failure (HF), including possible differences compared to the left ventricular (LV) proteome. We used 2-dimensional differential in-gel electrophoresis (pH: 4-7, 10-150 kDa), followed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, to compare the RV and LV proteomes in 12 explanted human hearts. We used Western blotting and multiple-reaction monitoring for protein verification and RNA sequencing for messenger RNA and protein expression correlation. In all 12 hearts, the right ventricles (RVs) demonstrated differential expression of 11 proteins relative to the left ventricles (LVs), including lesser expression of CRYM, TPM1, CLU, TXNL1, and COQ9 and greater expression of TNNI3, SAAI, ERP29, ACTN2, HSPB2, and NDUFS3. Principal-components analysis did not suggest RV-versus-LV proteome partitioning. In the nonischemic RVs (n = 6), 7 proteins were differentially expressed relative to the ischemic RVs (n = 6), including increased expression of CRYM, B7Z964, desmin, ANXA5, and MIME and decreased expression of SERPINA1 and ANT3. Principal-components analysis demonstrated partitioning of the nonischemic and ischemic RV proteomes, and gene ontology analysis identified differences in hemostasis and atherosclerosis-associated networks. There were no proteomic differences between RVs with echocardiographic dysfunction (n = 8) and those with normal function (n = 4). Messenger RNA and protein expression did not correlate consistently, suggesting a major role for RV posttranscriptional protein expression regulation. Differences in contractile, cytoskeletal, metabolic, signaling, and survival pathways exist between the RV and the LV in HF and may be related to the underlying HF etiology and differential posttranscriptional regulation.
Keywords: human heart failure; protein expression; proteomics; right ventricle.