Chasing cardiac physiology and pathology down the CaMKII cascade.
Calcium dynamics is central in cardiac physiology, as the key event leading to the excitation-contraction coupling (ECC) and relaxation processes. The primary function of Ca(2+) in the heart is the control of mechanical activity developed by the myofibril contractile apparatus. This key role of Ca(2+) signaling explains the subtle and critical control of important events of ECC and relaxation, such as Ca(2+) influx and SR Ca(2+) release and uptake. The multifunctional Ca(2+)-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is a signaling molecule that regulates a diverse array of proteins involved not only in ECC and relaxation but also in cell death, transcriptional activation of hypertrophy, inflammation, and arrhythmias. CaMKII activity is triggered by an increase in intracellular Ca(2+) levels. This activity can be sustained, creating molecular memory after the decline in Ca(2+) concentration, by autophosphorylation of the enzyme, as well as by oxidation, glycosylation, and nitrosylation at different sites of the regulatory domain of the kinase. CaMKII activity is enhanced in several cardiac diseases, altering the signaling pathways by which CaMKII regulates the different fundamental proteins involved in functional and transcriptional cardiac processes. Dysregulation of these pathways constitutes a central mechanism of various cardiac disease phenomena, like apoptosis and necrosis during ischemia/reperfusion injury, digitalis exposure, post-acidosis and heart failure arrhythmias, or cardiac hypertrophy. Here we summarize significant aspects of the molecular physiology of CaMKII and provide a conceptual framework for understanding the role of the CaMKII cascade on Ca(2+) regulation and dysregulation in cardiac health and disease.
Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, The National Scientific and Technical Research Council-La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina; ramattia@med.unlp.edu.ar.
Alicia
A
Mattiazzi
Centro de Engenharia Biomédica, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil;
Rosana A
RA
Bassani
Biological Engineering and Small Scale Technologies, School of Engineering, University of California, Merced, California; and.
Ariel L
AL
Escobar
Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, The National Scientific and Technical Research Council-La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina;
Julieta
J
Palomeque
Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, The National Scientific and Technical Research Council-La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina;
Carlos A
CA
Valverde
Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, The National Scientific and Technical Research Council-La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina;
Martín
M
Vila Petroff
Department of Pharmacology, University of California Davis, Davis, California.
Donald M
DM
Bers
D000818:Animals; D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D056966:Excitation Contraction Coupling; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology
D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2
Ca2+; CaMKII; arrhythmias; cell death; hypertrophy; ischemia/reperfusion