Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 17 pp 6872—6891

Cholesterol lowering attenuates pressure overload-induced heart failure in mice with mild hypercholesterolemia

Ilayaraja Muthuramu1, *, , Mudit Mishra1, *, , Joseph Pierre Aboumsallem1, , Andrey Postnov2, , Olivier Gheysens2, , Bart De Geest1, ,

  • 1 Centre for Molecular and Vascular Biology, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
  • 2 Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Department of Imaging and Pathology, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven 3000, Belgium
* Equal contribution

Received: June 21, 2019       Accepted: August 13, 2019       Published: September 4, 2019      

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.102218
How to Cite

Copyright © 2019 Muthuramu 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

Epidemiological studies support a strong association between non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and heart failure incidence. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effect of selective cholesterol lowering adeno-associated viral serotype 8 (AAV8)-mediated low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLr) gene transfer on cardiac remodelling and myocardial oxidative stress following transverse aortic constriction (TAC) in female C57BL/6 LDLr-/- mice with mild hypercholesterolemia. Cholesterol lowering gene transfer resulted in a 65.9% (p<0.0001) reduction of plasma cholesterol levels (51.2 ± 2.2 mg/dl) compared to controls (150 ± 7 mg/dl). Left ventricular wall area was 11.2% (p<0.05) lower in AAV8-LDLr TAC mice than in control TAC mice. In agreement, pro-hypertrophic myocardial proteins were potently decreased in AAV8-LDLr TAC mice. The degree of interstitial fibrosis and perivascular fibrosis was 31.0% (p<0.001) and 29.8% (p<0.001) lower, respectively, in AAV8-LDLr TAC mice compared to control TAC mice. These structural differences were associated with improved systolic and diastolic function and decreased lung congestion in AAV8-LDLr TAC mice compared to control TAC mice. Cholesterol lowering gene therapy counteracted myocardial oxidative stress and preserved the potential for myocardial fatty acid oxidation in TAC mice. In conclusion, cholesterol lowering gene therapy attenuates pressure overload-induced heart failure in mice with mild hypercholesterolemia.

Abbreviations

LDLr: Low-density lipoprotein receptor; AAV8: Adeno-associated viral serotype 8; VLDL: Very low-density lipoprotein; HDL: High-density lipoproteins; TBARS: Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances; FDG: Fluorodeoxyglucose.