Although numerous miRNAs have been discovered, their functions in the different subcellular organelles have remained obscure. In this study, we found that miR-665 was enriched in the nucleus of cardiomyocytes, and then investigated the underlying role of nuclear miR-665 in heart failure. RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization assays in human heart tissue sections and primary cardiomyocytes showed that miR-665 was localized in the nucleus of cardiomyocytes. Increased expression of nuclear miR-665 was observed not only in the cardiomyocytes isolated from the heart of mice treated in vivo by transverse aortic constriction (TAC), but also in phenylephrine (PE)-treated cultured cardiomyocytes in vitro. To further explore the role of miR-665 in heart failure, a type 9 recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) system was employed to manipulate the expression of miR-665 in mice. Overexpression of miR-665 aggravated TAC-induced cardiac dysfunction, while down-expression of miR-665 showed opposite effects. Bioinformatic prediction and biological validation confirmed that the PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog) gene was one of the targets of miR-665 in the nucleus. Furthermore, restoring PTEN expression significantly eliminated the destructive effects of miR-665 over-expression in TAC-induced cardiac dysfunction. Our data showed that nuclear miR-665 aggravates heart failure via inhibiting PTEN expression, which provided a therapeutic approach for heart failure.
Keywords: heart failure; miR-665; nucleus; phosphatase and tensin homolog.