The transcription factor interferon regulatory factor‐1 is an endogenous mediator of myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury

• DOI: 10.1002/cbin.11713
• Publication Date: 2021-10-20T06:46:59Z
• Authors: Wenlong Jiang; Guoxiong Chen; Jun Pu
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; 0303 health sciences; Gene Expression Profiling; Myocardial Infarction; Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II; Apoptosis; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Disease Models, Animal; Oxidative Stress; 03 medical and health sciences; Gene Expression Regulation; Animals; Humans; Myocytes, Cardiac; Transcriptome; Cells, Cultured; Interferon Regulatory Factor-1; Signal Transduction

AbstractMyocardial ischemia reperfusion (MIR) injury negatively affects the prognosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), while effective suppression of MIR injury remains a largely unmet clinical need. Interferon regulatory factors (IRF) are key players in chronic cardiac disorders such as cardiac remodeling. However, their roles in acute MIR injury remain largely unknown. In the current study, microarray data indicated that IRF1 expression was consistently changed in the human ischemic heart and ischemic reperfused mouse heart. Western blot analysis confirmed the expression alterations of IRF1 in ischemic reperfused mouse heart. Cardiac‐specific IRF1 knockdown significantly decreased infarct size, improved cardiac function, and suppressed myocardial apoptosis after MIR injury. Conversely, cardiac‐specific IRF1 overexpression significantly promoted MIR injury. Further investigation revealed that IRF1 transcriptionally regulated the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and augmented oxidative stress. Taken together, we presented the first direct evidence that IRF1 served as a mediator of MIR injury, and IRF1 may represent a potential therapeutic target for alleviating MIR injury.