Sense and stretchability: The role of titin and titin-associated proteins in myocardial stress-sensing and mechanical dysfunction

Mechanical stress signals transmitted through the heart walls during hemodynamic loading are sensed by the myocytes, which respond with changes in contractile performance and gene expression. External forces play an important role in physiological heart development and hypertrophy, but disruption of the well-balanced stress-sensing machinery causes mechanical dysregulation, cardiac remodelling, and heart failure. Nodal points of mechanosensing in the cardiomyocytes may reside in the Z-disk, I-band, and M-band regions of the sarcomeres. Longitudinal linkage of these regions is provided by the titin filament, and several 'hot spots' along this giant protein, in complex with some of its >20 ligands, may be pivotal to the myofibrillar stress or stretch response. This review outlines the known interaction partners of titin, highlights the putative stress/stretch-sensor complexes at titin's NH(2) and COOH termini and their role in myopathies, and summarizes the known disease-associated mutations in those titin regions. Another focus is the elastic I-band titin section, which interacts with a diverse number of proteins and whose main function is as a determinant of diastolic distensibility and passive stiffness. The discussion centers on recent insights into the plasticity, mechanical role, and regulation of the elastic titin springs during cardiac development and in human heart disease. Titin and titin-based protein complexes are now recognized as integral parts of the mechanosensitive protein network and as critical components in cardiomyocyte stress/stretch signalling.