title: Increased expression of alternatively spliced dominant-negative isoform of SRF in human failing hearts.
abstract: Serum response factor (SRF) has been shown to play a key role in cardiac cell growth and muscle gene regulation. To understand the role of SRF in heart failure, we compared its expression pattern between control and failing human heart samples. Western blot analysis of control samples showed expression of four different isoforms of SRF, with ~67-kDa full-length SRF being the predominant isoform. Interestingly, in failing hearts we found robust expression of a low-molecular-mass (~52 kDa) SRF isoform, accompanied by decreased expression of full-length SRF. By RT-PCR and Southern blot analyses, we characterized this ~52-kDa SRF isoform as being encoded by an alternatively spliced form of SRF lacking exons 4 and 5 of the SRF primary RNA transcript (SRF-Delta4,5 isoform). We cloned SRF-Delta4,5 cDNA and showed that overexpression of this isoform into cells inhibits SRF-dependent activation of cardiac muscle genes. These results suggest that expression of SRF-Delta4,5 in failing hearts may in part contribute to impaired cardiac gene expression and consequently to the pathogenesis of heart failure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery (Cardiac and Thoracic), University of Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
authors.forename: Francesca J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Madhu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Pogwizd
authors.forename: Emile
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bacha
authors.forename: Valluan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jeevanandam
authors.forename: Mahesh P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002455:Cell Division; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002648:Child; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers; D015342:DNA Probes; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005091:Exons; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009206:Myocardium / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D020033:Protein Isoforms / Q000235:genetics; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D012016:Reference Values; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D026362:Serum Response Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D015342:DNA Probes; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D026362:Serum Response Factor