The antiapoptotic protein HAX-1 mediates half of phospholamban's inhibitory activity on calcium cycling and contractility in the heart

Philip A. Bidwell, Kobra Haghighi, Evangelia G. Kranias

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

The antiapoptotic protein HAX-1 (HS-associated protein X-1) localizes to sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) in the heart and interacts with the small membrane protein phospholamban (PLN), inhibiting the cardiac sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase 2a (SERCA2a) in the regulation of overall calcium handling and heart muscle contractility. However, because global HAX-1 deletion causes early lethality, how much endogenous HAX-1 contributes to PLN's inhibitory activity on calcium cycling is unknown. We therefore generated a cardiacspecific and inducible knock-out mouse model. HAX-1 ablation in the adult heart significantly increased contractile parameters and calcium kinetics, associated with increased SR calcium load. These changes occurred without any changes in the protein expression of SERCA2a, PLN, and ryanodine receptor or in the PLN phosphorylation status. The enhanced calcium cycling in the HAX-1-depleted heart was mediated through increases in the calcium affinity of SERCA2a and reduced PLN-SERCA2a binding. Comparison of the HAX-1 deletion-induced stimulatory effects with those elicited by PLN ablation indicated that HAX-1 mediates∼50% of the PLN-associated inhibitory effects in the heart. Stimulation with the inotropic and lusitropic agent isoproterenol eliminated the differences among wild-type, HAX-1-deficient, and PLN-deficient hearts, and maximally stimulated contractile and calcium kinetic parameters were similar among these three groups. Furthermore, PLN overexpression in the HAX-1-null cardiomyocytes did not elicit any inhibitory effects, indicating thatHAX-1may limitPLNactivity. These findings suggest that HAX-1 is a major mediator of PLN's inhibitory activity and a critical gatekeeper of SR calcium cycling and contractility in the heart.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)359-367
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Biological Chemistry
Volume293
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 5 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants HL-26057 and HL-64018 (to E. G. K.) and HL-125204 (to P. A. B.) and American Heart Associa-tion Postdoctoral Fellowship 13POST13860006 (to P. A. B.). The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest with the contents of this article. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

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