bims-hafaim Biomed News
on Heart failure metabolism
Issue of 2023–03–12
nine papers selected by
Kyle McCommis, Saint Louis University



  1. JACC Heart Fail. 2022 Dec 21. pii: S2213-1779(22)00704-1. [Epub ahead of print]
       BACKGROUND: Black people have a higher incidence and prevalence of heart failure (HF) than White people, and once HF has developed, they may have worse outcomes. There is also evidence that the response to several pharmacologic therapies may differ between Black and White patients.
    OBJECTIVES: The authors sought to examine the outcomes and response to treatment with dapagliflozin according to Black or White race in a pooled analysis of 2 trials comparing dapagliflozin to placebo in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (DAPA-HF [Dapagliflozin and Prevention of Adverse Outcomes in Heart Failure]) and heart failure with Mildly reduced ejection fraction/heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (DELIVER [Dapagliflozin Evaluation to Improve the Lives of Patients With Preserved Ejection Fraction Heart Failure]).
    METHODS: Because most self-identified Black patients were enrolled in the Americas, the comparator group was White patients randomized in the same regions. The primary outcome was the composite of worsening HF or cardiovascular death.
    RESULTS: Of the 3,526 patients randomized in the Americas, 2,626 (74.5%) identified as White and 381 (10.8%) as Black. The primary outcome occurred at a rate of 16.8 (95% CI: 13.8-20.4) in Black patients compared with 11.6 (95% CI: 10.6-12.7) per 100 person-years in White patients (adjusted HR: 1.27; 95% CI: 1.01-1.59). Compared with placebo, dapagliflozin decreased the risk of the primary endpoint to the same extent in Black (HR: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.47-1.02) and White patients (HR: 0.73 [95% CI: 0.61-0.88]; Pinteraction = 0.73). The number of patients needed to treat with dapagliflozin to prevent one event over the median follow-up was 17 in White and 12 in Black patients. The beneficial effects and favorable safety profile of dapagliflozin were consistent across the range of left ventricular ejection fractions in both Black and White patients.
    CONCLUSIONS: The relative benefits of dapagliflozin were consistent in Black and White patients across the range of left ventricular ejection fraction, with greater absolute benefits in Black patients. (Dapagliflozin and Prevention of Adverse Outcomes in Heart Failure [DAPA-HF]; NCT03036124) (Dapagliflozin Evaluation to Improve the Lives of Patients With Preserved Ejection Fraction Heart Failure [DELIVER]; NCT03619213).
    Keywords:  Black race; clinical trial; heart failure; outcomes; race; sodium-glucose co-transporter 2
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchf.2022.11.014
  2. Cells. 2023 Feb 27. pii: 752. [Epub ahead of print]12(5):
      Heart failure (HF) is an emerging epidemic with a high mortality rate. Apart from conventional treatment methods, such as surgery or use of vasodilation drugs, metabolic therapy has been suggested as a new therapeutic strategy. The heart relies on fatty acid oxidation and glucose (pyruvate) oxidation for ATP-mediated contractility; the former meets most of the energy requirement, but the latter is more efficient. Inhibition of fatty acid oxidation leads to the induction of pyruvate oxidation and provides cardioprotection to failing energy-starved hearts. One of the non-canonical types of sex hormone receptors, progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (Pgrmc1), is a non-genomic progesterone receptor associated with reproduction and fertility. Recent studies revealed that Pgrmc1 regulates glucose and fatty acid synthesis. Notably, Pgrmc1 has also been associated with diabetic cardiomyopathy, as it reduces lipid-mediated toxicity and delays cardiac injury. However, the mechanism by which Pgrmc1 influences the energy-starved failing heart remains unknown. In this study, we found that loss of Pgrmc1 inhibited glycolysis and increased fatty acid/pyruvate oxidation, which is directly associated with ATP production, in starved hearts. Loss of Pgrmc1 during starvation activated the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase, which induced cardiac ATP production. Pgrmc1 loss increased the cellular respiration of cardiomyocytes under low-glucose conditions. In isoproterenol-induced cardiac injury, Pgrmc1 knockout resulted in less fibrosis and low heart failure marker expression. In summary, our results revealed that Pgrmc1 ablation in energy-deficit conditions increases fatty acid/pyruvate oxidation to protect against cardiac damage via energy starvation. Moreover, Pgrmc1 may be a regulator of cardiac metabolism that switches the dominance of glucose-fatty acid usage according to nutritional status and nutrient availability in the heart.
    Keywords:  Pgrmc1; heart; ischemia; metabolism; starvation
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12050752
  3. Cardiovasc Res. 2023 Mar 06. pii: cvad041. [Epub ahead of print]
       AIMS: PCSK9, which is expressed mainly in the liver and at low levels in the heart, regulates cholesterol levels by directing low-density lipoprotein receptors to degradation. Studies to determine the role of PCSK9 in the heart are complicated by the close link between cardiac function and systemic lipid metabolism. Here, we sought to elucidate the function of PCSK9 specifically in the heart by generating and analysing mice with cardiomyocyte-specific Pcsk9 deficiency (CM-Pcsk9-/- mice) and by silencing Pcsk9 acutely in a cell culture model of adult cardiomyocyte-like cells.
    METHODS AND RESULTS: Mice with cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Pcsk9 had reduced contractile capacity, impaired cardiac function and left ventricular dilatation at 28 weeks of age and died prematurely. Transcriptomic analyses revealed alterations of signalling pathways linked to cardiomyopathy and energy metabolism in hearts from CM-Pcsk9-/- mice versus wildtype littermates. In agreement, levels of genes and proteins involved in mitochondrial metabolism were reduced in CM-Pcsk9-/- hearts. By using a Seahorse flux analyser, we showed that mitochondrial but not glycolytic function was impaired in cardiomyocytes from CM-Pcsk9-/- mice. We further showed that assembly and activity of electron transport chain (ETC) complexes were altered in isolated mitochondria from CM-Pcsk9-/- mice. Circulating lipid levels were unchanged in CM-Pcsk9-/- mice, but the lipid composition of mitochondrial membranes was altered. In addition, cardiomyocytes from CM-Pcsk9-/- mice had an increased number of mitochondria-ER contacts and alterations in the morphology of cristae, the physical location of the ETC complexes. We also showed that acute Pcsk9 silencing in adult cardiomyocyte-like cells reduced the activity of ETC complexes and impaired mitochondrial metabolism.
    CONCLUSION: PCSK9, despite its low expression in cardiomyocytes, contributes to cardiac metabolic function, and PCSK9 deficiency in cardiomyocytes is linked to cardiomyopathy, impaired heart function, and compromised energy production.
    TRANSLATIONAL PERSPECTIVE: PCSK9 is mainly present in the circulation where it regulates plasma cholesterol levels. Here we show that PCSK9 mediates intracellular functions that differ from its extracellular functions. We further show that intracellular PCSK9 in cardiomyocytes, despite low expression levels, is important for maintaining physiological cardiac metabolism and function.
    Keywords:  Pro-protein convertase subtilisin-kexin type 9 (PCSK9); cardiac dysfunction; cardiomyocyte; metabolic inflexibility; mitochondria
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvad041
  4. Metabolism. 2023 Mar 06. pii: S0026-0495(23)00135-X. [Epub ahead of print] 155532
      Heart diseases are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. The underlying mechanisms and pathological changes associated with cardiac diseases are exceptionally complex. Highly active cardiomyocytes require sufficient energy metabolism to maintain their function. Under physiological conditions, the choice of fuel is a delicate process that depends on the whole body and organs to support the normal function of heart tissues. However, disordered cardiac metabolism has been discovered to play a key role in many forms of heart diseases, including ischemic heart disease, cardiac hypertrophy, heart failure, and cardiac injury induced by diabetes or sepsis. Regulation of cardiac metabolism has recently emerged as a novel approach to treat heart diseases. However, little is known about cardiac energy metabolic regulators. Histone deacetylases (HDACs), a class of epigenetic regulatory enzymes, are involved in the pathogenesis of heart diseases, as reported in previous studies. Notably, the effects of HDACs on cardiac energy metabolism are gradually being explored. Our knowledge in this respect would facilitate the development of novel therapeutic strategies for heart diseases. The present review is based on the synthesis of our current knowledge concerning the role of HDAC regulation in cardiac energy metabolism in heart diseases. In addition, the role of HDACs in different models is discussed through the examples of myocardial ischemia, ischemia/reperfusion, cardiac hypertrophy, heart failure, diabetic cardiomyopathy, and diabetes- or sepsis-induced cardiac injury. Finally, we discuss the application of HDAC inhibitors in heart diseases and further prospects, thus providing insights into new treatment possibilities for different heart diseases.
    Keywords:  Cardiac energy metabolism; Cardiac hypertrophy; Diabetic cardiomyopathy; Heart failure; Histone deacetylases; Myocardial ischemia/reperfusion
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2023.155532
  5. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2023 Mar 08.
       ABSTRACT: Epidemic of obesity accelerates the increase in the number of patients with obesity cardiomyopathy. Thioredoxin interacting protein (TXNIP) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple cardiovascular diseases. However, its specific role in obesity cardiomyopathy is still not well understood. Here, we evaluated the role of TXNIP in obesity induced cardiomyopathy by feeding wild type (WT) and txnip gene knockout (KO) mice with either normal diet (ND) or high fat diet (HFD) for 24 weeks. Our results suggested that TXNIP deficiency improved mitochondrial dysfunction via reversing the shift from mitochondrial fusion to fission in the context of chronic HFD feeding, and thus promoting cardiac fatty acid oxidation to alleviate chronic HFD-induced lipid accumulation in the heart, and thereby ameliorating the cardiac function in obese mice. Our work provides a theoretical basis for TXNIP exerting as a potential therapeutic target for the interventions of obesity cardiomyopathy.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1097/FJC.0000000000001414
  6. JACC Asia. 2023 Feb;3(1): 93-104
       Background: Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors have been shown to exert pleiotropic effects on heart failure (HF) in animal experiments.
    Objectives: This study sought to investigate the impact of DPP-4 inhibitors on HF patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).
    Methods: We analyzed hospitalized patients with HF and DM enrolled in the JROADHF (Japanese Registry Of Acute Decompensated Heart Failure) registry, a nationwide registry of acute decompensated HF. Primary exposure was the use of a DPP-4 inhibitor. The primary outcome was a composite of cardiovascular death or HF hospitalization during the median follow-up of 3.6 years according to left ventricular ejection fraction.
    Results: Out of 2,999 eligible patients, 1,130 had heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), 572 had heart failure with midrange ejection fraction (HFmrEF), and 1,297 had heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). In each cohort, 444, 232, and 574 patients received a DPP-4 inhibitor, respectively. A multivariable Cox regression model showed that DPP-4 inhibitor use was associated with a lower composite of cardiovascular death or HF hospitalization in HFpEF (HR: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.55-0.87; P = 0.002) but not in HFmrEF and HFrEF. Restricted cubic spline analysis demonstrated that DPP-4 inhibitors were beneficial in patients with higher left ventricular ejection fraction. In HFpEF cohort, propensity score matching yielded 263 pairs. DPP-4 inhibitor use was associated with a lower incidence rate of the composite of cardiovascular death or HF hospitalization (19.2 vs 25.9 events per 100 patient-years; rate ratio: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.57-0.97; P = 0.027) in matched patients.
    Conclusions: DPP-4 inhibitor use was associated with better long-term outcomes in HFpEF patients with DM.
    Keywords:  BMI, body mass index; BNP, B-type natriuretic peptide; CV, cardiovascular; DM, diabetes mellitus; DPP-4, dipeptidyl peptidase-4; HF, heart failure; HFmrEF, heart failure with mildly reduced ejection fraction; HFpEF, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction; HFrEF, heart failure with reduced ejection fraction; HbA1c, glycosylated hemoglobin; LV, left ventricular; LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction; SGLT-2, sodium-glucose cotransporter-2; diabetes mellitus; dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor; heart failure with preserved ejection fraction; long-term outcome
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacasi.2022.09.015
  7. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2023 Mar 10. 22(1): 54
       BACKGROUND: No study has compared the cardiovascular outcomes for sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) head-to-head against other glucose-lowering therapies, including dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor (DDP4i) or glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA)-which also have cardiovascular benefits-in patients with heart failure with reduced (HFrEF) or preserved (HFpEF) ejection fraction.
    METHODS: Medicare fee-for-service data (2013-2019) were used to create four pair-wise comparison cohorts of type 2 diabetes patients with: (1a) HFrEF initiating SGLT2i versus DPP4i; (1b) HFrEF initiating SGLT2i versus GLP-1RA; (2a) HFpEF initiating SGLT2i versus DPP4i; and (2b) HFpEF initiating SGLT2i versus GLP-1RA. The primary outcomes were (1) hospitalization for heart failure (HHF) and (2) myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke hospitalizations. Adjusted hazards ratios (HR) and 95% CIs were estimated using inverse probability of treatment weighting.
    RESULTS: Among HFrEF patients, initiation of SGLT2i versus DPP4i (cohort 1a; n = 13,882) was associated with a lower risk of HHF (adjusted Hazard Ratio [HR (95% confidence interval)], 0.67 (0.63, 0.72) and MI or stroke (HR: 0.86 [0.75, 0.99]), and initiation of SGLT2i versus GLP-1RA (cohort 1b; n = 6951) was associated with lower risk of HHF (HR: 0.86 [0.79, 0.93]), but not MI or stroke (HR: 1.02 [0.85, 1.22]). Among HFpEF patients, initiation of SGLT2i versus DPP4i (cohort 2a; n = 17,493) was associated with lower risk of HHF (HR: 0.65 [0.61, 0.69]) but not MI or stroke (HR: 0.90 [0.79, 1.02]), and initiation of SGLT2i versus GLP-1RA (cohort 2b; n = 9053) was associated with lower risk of HHF (0.89 [0.83, 0.96]), but not MI or stroke (HR: 0.97 [0.83, 1.14]). Results were robust across range of secondary outcomes (e.g., all-cause mortality) and sensitivity analyses.
    CONCLUSIONS: Bias from residual confounding cannot be ruled out. Use of SGLT2i was associated with reduced risk of HHF against DPP4i and GLP-1RA, reduced risk of MI or stroke against DPP4i within the HFrEF subgroup, and comparable risk of MI or stroke against GLP-1RA. Notably, the magnitude of cardiovascular benefit conferred by SGLT2i was similar among patients with HFrEF and HFpEF.
    Keywords:  Cardiovascular outcomes; Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists; Heart failure; Hospitalization for heart failure; Major adverse cardiovascular events; Myocardial infarction; Sodium–glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors; Stroke
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12933-023-01784-w
  8. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2023 Mar 07. 22(1): 48
       BACKGROUND: Ectopic fat is fat that accumulates in or around specific organs or compartments of the body including myocardium. The clinical features of type 2 diabetes patients with high fat accumulation in the myocardium remain unknown. Moreover, little is known about the influence of myocardial fat accumulation in type 2 diabetes on coronary artery disease and cardiac dysfunction. We aimed to clarify the clinical features, including cardiac functions, of type 2 diabetes patients with myocardial fat accumulation.
    METHODS: We retrospectively enrolled type 2 diabetes patients who underwent ECG-gated coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan examinations within 1 year of CCTA from January 2000 to March 2021. High fat accumulation in the myocardium was defined as the low mean myocardial CT value of three regions of interest, and the associations between CT values and clinical characteristics or cardiac functions were assessed.
    RESULTS: In total, 124 patients were enrolled (72 males and 52 females). The mean age was 66.6 years, the mean BMI was 26.2 kg/m2, the mean ejection fraction (EF) was 67.6%, and the mean myocardial CT value was 47.7 Hounsfield unit. A significant positive correlation was found between myocardial CT value and EF (r = 0.3644, p = 0.0004). The multiple regression analyses also showed that myocardial CT value was independently associated with EF (estimate, 0.304; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.092 to 0.517; p = 0.0056). Myocardial CT value showed significant negative correlations with BMI, visceral fat area and subcutaneous fat area (r = - 0.1923, - 0.2654, and -0.3569, respectively, p < 0.05). In patients who were ≥ 65 years or female, myocardial CT value showed significant positive correlations with not only EF (r = 0.3542 and 0.4085, respectively, p < 0.01) but also early lateral annular tissue Doppler velocity (Lat e') (r = 0.5148 and 0.5361, respectively, p < 0.05). The multiple regression analyses showed that myocardial CT value was independently associated with EF and Lat e' in these subgroups (p < 0.05).
    CONCLUSIONS: Patients with type 2 diabetes, especially in elderly or female patients, who had more myocardial fat had more severe left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunctions. Reducing myocardial fat accumulation may be a therapeutic target for type 2 diabetes patients.
    Keywords:  Ectopic fat; Myocardial function; Myocardium; Type 2 diabetes; Visceral obesity
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1186/s12933-023-01782-y
  9. Front Nutr. 2023 ;10 1068050
       Background: Previous observational studies have shown intimate associations between fatty acids (FAs) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). However, due to the confounding factors and reverse causal association found in observational epidemiological studies, the etiological explanation is not credible.
    Objective: To exclude possible confounding factors and reverse causal associations found in observational epidemiological studies, we used the two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to verify the causal relationship between FAs and DCM risk.
    Method: All data of 54 FAs were downloaded from the genome-wide association studies (GWAS) catalog, and the summary statistics of DCM were extracted from the HF Molecular Epidemiology for Therapeutic Targets Consortium GWAS. Two-sample MR analysis was conducted to evaluate the causal effect of FAs on DCM risk through several analytical methods, including MR-Egger, inverse variance weighting (IVW), maximum likelihood, weighted median estimator (WME), and the MR pleiotropy residual sum and outlier test (MRPRESSO). Directionality tests using MR-Steiger to assess the possibility of reverse causation.
    Results: Our analysis identified two FAs, oleic acid and fatty acid (18:1)-OH, that may have a significant causal effect on DCM. MR analyses indicated that oleic acid was suggestively associated with a heightened risk of DCM (OR = 1.291, 95%CI: 1.044-1.595, P = 0.018). As a probable metabolite of oleic acid, fatty acid (18:1)-OH has a suggestive association with a lower risk of DCM (OR = 0.402, 95%CI: 0.167-0.966, P = 0.041). The results of the directionality test suggested that there was no reverse causality between exposure and outcome (P < 0.001). In contrast, the other 52 available FAs were discovered to have no significant causal relationships with DCM (P > 0.05).
    Conclusion: Our findings propose that oleic acid and fatty acid (18:1)-OH may have causal relationships with DCM, indicating that the risk of DCM from oleic acid may be decreased by encouraging the conversion of oleic acid to fatty acid (18:1)-OH.
    Keywords:  dilated cardiomyopathy; genome-wide association studies; hydroxy fatty acid; oleic acid; two-sample Mendelian randomization
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1068050