Phosphoprotein Abundance Changes in Hypertensive Cardiac Remodeling

There is over-whelming evidence that protein phosphorylations regulate cardiac function and remodeling. A wide variety of protein kinases, e.g., phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), Akt, GSK-3, TGFβ, and PKA, MAPKs, PKC, Erks, and Jaks, as well as phosphatases, e.g., phosphatase I (PP1) and calcineurin, control cardiomyocyte growth and contractility. In the present work, we used global phosphoprotein profiling to identify phosphorylated proteins associated with pressure overload (PO) cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Phosphoproteins from hypertrophic and systolic failing hearts from male hypertensive Dahl salt-sensitive rats, trans-aortic banded (TAC), and spontaneously hypertensive heart failure (SHHF) rats were analyzed. Profiling was performed by 2-dimensional difference in gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) on phospho-enriched proteins. A total of 25 common phosphoproteins with differences in abundance in (1) the 3 hypertrophic and/or (2) the 2 systolic failure heart models were identified (CI>99%) by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) and Mascot analysis. Among these were (1) myofilament proteins, including alpha-tropomyosin and myosin regulatory light chain 2, cap Z interacting protein (cap ZIP), and tubulin β5; (2) mitochondrial proteins, including pyruvate dehydrogenase α, branch chain ketoacid dehydrogenase E1, and mitochondrial creatine kinase; (3) phosphatases, including protein phosphatase 2A and protein phosphatase 1 regulatory subunit; and (4) other proteins including proteosome subunits α type 3 and β type 7, and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 1A (eIF1A). The results include previously described and novel phosphoproteins in cardiac hypertrophy and systolic failure.