Key result
Pharmacological inhibition of FAK with PF-562271 attenuated cardiac fibrosis in a mouse model of myocardial infarction, though deteriorated heart function was not significantly improved.
Why the study?
Does pharmacological inhibition of FAK attenuate cardiac fibrosis in post-MI mouse models?
Does pharmacological inhibition of FAK attenuate cardiac fibrosis in post-MI mouse models?
Pharmacological inhibition of FAK attenuates cardiac fibrosis post-MI in mice, suggesting a potential therapeutic strategy, though it did not significantly improve heart function.
FAK inhibition attenuates post-MI fibrosis in mice without functional gain; hypothesis-generating for clinical translation.
BACKGROUND: To investigate the role of focal adhesion kinase (FAK)-mediated signaling in hypoxia-induced cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) differentiation and cardiac fibrosis post-myocardial infarction (MI) on a mice model. METHODS: CFs of neonatal C57BL/6 mice were treated under normoxic, hypoxic, or hypoxic+PP2 (known as a Src kinase family inhibitor) conditions. Gene expressions of FAK, alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and collagen type I alpha 1 (Col1α1), or α-SMA and vimentin levels were performed by RT-PCR and immunofluorescence staining, respectively. Thirty mice were surgically treated into Sham (n=7) and MI (n=23) groups; and FAK inhibitor PF-562271 was given to six survivor MI mice (as PF group, from 15 survivors). Heart function and collagenous tissues were examined by echocardiography, as well as by Masson‘s trichrome and Sirius red staining, respectively. Type I collagen, FAK protein, mTOR, ERK1/2, AKT, P70S6K and phospho-FAK levels were also analyzed. RESULTS: FAK inhibition with PP2 significantly decreased CFs differentiation and collagen synthesis under hypoxia treatment. In vivo, PF-562271 treatment resulted in fibrosis attenuation; however, deteriorated heart function of MI mice could not be significantly improved. PF-562271 may affect phospho-mTOR (p<0.05), phospho-ERK1/2 (p<0.01), phospho-AKT (p<0.001) and phospho-P70S6K (p<0.05) to exert its benefits. FAK can be activated either under hypoxia in CFs or MI in a mouse model to promote fibrosis. However, pharmacological inhibition of FAK can attenuate fibrosis response. CONCLUSION: This study provides novel evidence that FAK inhibition may become a promising pharmaceutical strategy to attenuate fibrosis post-MI.
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Fan et al. (2015) studied Cardiac fibrosis post-myocardial infarction (n=30). FAK inhibitor PF-562271 vs. Untreated MI mice / Sham was evaluated on Fibrosis attenuation and heart function. Pharmacological inhibition of FAK with PF-562271 attenuated cardiac fibrosis in a mouse model of myocardial infarction, though deteriorated heart function was not significantly improved.