Fibrotic scarring drives the progression of heart failure after myocardial infarction (MI). Therefore, the development of specific treatment regimens to counteract fibrosis is of high clinical relevance. The transcription factor sex-determining region Y box 9 (SOX9) functions as an important regulator during embryogenesis, but recent data point toward an additional causal role in organ fibrosis. We show here that SOX9 is upregulated in the scar after MI in mice. Fibroblast-specific deletion of Sox9 ameliorated MI-induced left ventricular dysfunction, dilatation, and myocardial scarring in vivo. Unexpectedly, deletion of Sox9 also potently eliminated persisting leukocyte infiltration of the scar in the chronic phase after MI. RNA-Seq from the infarct scar revealed that Sox9 deletion in fibroblasts resulted in strongly downregulated expression of genes related to extracellular matrix, proteolysis, and inflammation. Importantly, Sox9 deletion in isolated cardiac fibroblasts in vitro similarly affected gene expression as in the cardiac scar and reduced fibroblast proliferation, migration, and contraction capacity. Together, our data demonstrate that fibroblast SOX9 functions as a master regulator of cardiac fibrosis and inflammation and might constitute a novel therapeutic target during MI.
Gesine M. Scharf, Katja Kilian, Julio Cordero, Yong Wang, Andrea Grund, Melanie Hofmann, Natali Froese, Xue Wang, Andreas Kispert, Ralf Kist, Simon J. Conway, Robert Geffers, Kai C. Wollert, Gergana Dobreva, Johann Bauersachs, Joerg Heineke
Usage data is cumulative from September 2023 through September 2024.
Usage | JCI | PMC |
---|---|---|
Text version | 842 | 434 |
87 | 162 | |
Figure | 215 | 14 |
Supplemental data | 32 | 5 |
Citation downloads | 39 | 0 |
Totals | 1,215 | 615 |
Total Views | 1,830 |
Usage information is collected from two different sources: this site (JCI) and Pubmed Central (PMC). JCI information (compiled daily) shows human readership based on methods we employ to screen out robotic usage. PMC information (aggregated monthly) is also similarly screened of robotic usage.
Various methods are used to distinguish robotic usage. For example, Google automatically scans articles to add to its search index and identifies itself as robotic; other services might not clearly identify themselves as robotic, or they are new or unknown as robotic. Because this activity can be misinterpreted as human readership, data may be re-processed periodically to reflect an improved understanding of robotic activity. Because of these factors, readers should consider usage information illustrative but subject to change.