Background: Surviving cells in the postinfarction border zone are subjected to intense fluctuations of their microenvironment. Recently, border zone cardiomyocytes have been specifically implicated in cardiac regeneration. Here, we defined their unique transcriptional and regulatory properties, and comprehensively validated new molecular markers, including Nppb , encoding B-type natriuretic peptide, after infarction. Methods: Transgenic reporter mice were used to identify the Nppb -positive border zone after myocardial infarction. Transcriptome analysis of remote, border, and infarct zones and of purified cardiomyocyte nuclei was performed using RNA-sequencing. Top candidate genes displaying border zone spatial specificity were histologically validated in ischemic human hearts. Mice in which Nppb was deleted by genome editing were subjected to myocardial infarction. Chromatin accessibility landscapes of border zone and control cardiomyocyte nuclei were assessed by using assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing. Results: We identified the border zone as a spatially confined region transcriptionally distinct from the remote myocardium. The transcriptional response of the border zone was much stronger than that of the remote ventricular wall, involving acute downregulation of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, fatty acid metabolism, calcium handling, and sarcomere function, and the activation of a stress-response program. Analysis of infarcted human hearts revealed that the transcriptionally discrete border zone is conserved in humans, and led to the identification of novel conserved border zone markers including NPPB , ANKRD1 , DES , UCHL1, JUN , and FOXP1 . Homozygous Nppb mutant mice developed acute and lethal heart failure after myocardial infarction, indicating that B-type natriuretic peptide is required to preserve postinfarct heart function. Assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing revealed thousands of cardiomyocyte lineage-specific MEF2-occupied regulatory elements that lost accessibility in the border zone. Putative injury-responsive enhancers that gained accessibility were highly associated with AP-1 (activator protein 1) binding sites. Nuclear c-Jun, a component of AP-1, was observed specifically in border zone cardiomyocytes. Conclusions: Cardiomyocytes in a discrete zone bordering the infarct switch from a MEF2-driven homeostatic lineage-specific to an AP-1–driven injury-induced gene expression program. This program is conserved between mouse and human, and includes Nppb expression, which is required to prevent acute heart failure after infarction.

Gastrointestinal tumor growth is thought to be promoted by gastrointestinal bacteria and their inflammatory products. We observed that intestine-specific conditional Apc mutant mice (FabplCre;Apc (15lox/+)) developed many more colorectal tumors under conventional than under pathogen-low housing conditions. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing plus quantitative PCR analysis of feces DNA revealed the presence of two bacterial species in conventional mice, absent from pathogen-low mice. One, Helicobacter typhlonius, has not been associated with cancer in man, nor in immune-competent mice. The other species, mucin-degrading Akkermansia muciniphila, is abundantly present in healthy humans, but reduced in patients with inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases and in obese and type 2 diabetic mice. Eradication of H.typhlonius in young conventional mice by antibiotics decreased the number of intestinal tumors. Additional presence of A.muciniphila prior to the antibiotic treatment reduced the tumor number even further. Colonization of pathogen-low FabplCre;Apc (15lox/+) mice with H.typhlonius or A.muciniphila increased the number of intestinal tumors, the thickness of the intestinal mucus layer and A.muciniphila colonization without H.typhlonius increased the density of mucin-producing goblet cells. However, dual colonization with H.typhlonius and A.muciniphila significantly reduced the number of intestinal tumors, the mucus layer thickness and goblet cell density to that of control mice. By global microbiota composition analysis, we found a positive association of A.muciniphila, and of H.typhlonius, and a negative association of unclassified Clostridiales with increased tumor burden. We conclude that A.muciniphila and H.typhlonius can modulate gut microbiota composition and intestinal tumor development in mice.

During development, the embryonic heart grows by addition of cells from a highly proliferative progenitor pool and by subsequent precisely controlled waves of cardiomyocyte proliferation. In this period, the heart can compensate for cardiomyocyte loss by an increased proliferation rate of the remaining cardiomyocytes. This proliferative capacity is lost soon after birth, with heart growth continuing by an increase in cardiomyocyte volume. The failure of the injured adult heart to regenerate often leads to the development of heart failure, a major cause of death. With the recent observation of a small fraction of cardiomyocytes that appear to have retained the proliferative capacity within the adult heart, as well as the identification of developmental pathways such as the Hippo-signaling pathway that can invoke mature cardiomyocyte proliferation, more studies are taking a knowledge-based mechanistic approach to heart regeneration. A key question being asked is if this knowledge can be used therapeutically to reinitiate cardiomyocyte proliferation after injury such as myocardial infarction. In this respect, uncovering and understanding the mechanisms and conditions that give rise to a fully functional and adaptive heart in the developing embryo could provide us with the answers to many of the questions that are now being asked.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect. After birth, patients with CHD may suffer from cardiac stress resulting from abnormal loading conditions. However, it is not known how this cardiac burden influences postnatal development and adaptation of the ventricles. To study the transcriptional and cell-cycle response of neonatal cardiomyocytes to cardiac stress, we used a genetic mouse model that develops left ventricular volume overload within 2 weeks after birth. The increased volume load caused upregulation of the cardiac stress marker Nppa in the left ventricle and interventricular septum as early as 12 days after birth. Transcriptome analysis revealed that cardiac stress induced the expression of cell-cycle genes. This did not influence postnatal cell-cycle withdrawal of cardiomyocytes and other cell types in the ventricles as measured by Ki-67 immunostaining.

Myocardial infarction causes ventricular muscle loss and formation of scar tissue. The surviving myocardium in the border zone, located adjacent to the infarct, undergoes profound changes in function, structure and composition. How and to what extent these changes of border zone cardiomyocytes are regulated epigenetically is not fully understood. Here, we obtained transcriptomes of PCM-1-sorted mouse cardiomyocyte nuclei of healthy left ventricle and 7 days post myocardial infarction border zone tissue. We validated previously observed downregulation of genes involved in fatty acid metabolism, oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial function in border zone-derived cardiomyocytes, and observed a modest induction of genes involved in glycolysis, including Slc2a1 (Glut1) and Pfkp. To gain insight into the underlying epigenetic regulatory mechanisms, we performed H3K27ac profiling of healthy and border zone cardiomyocyte nuclei. We confirmed the switch from Mef2- to AP-1 chromatin association in border zone cardiomyocytes, and observed, in addition, an enrichment of PPAR/RXR binding motifs in the sites with reduced H3K27ac signal. We detected downregulation and accompanying epigenetic state changes at several key PPAR target genes including Ppargc1a (PGC-1a), Cpt2, Ech1, Fabpc3 and Vldrl in border zone cardiomyocytes. These data indicate that changes in epigenetic state and gene regulation underlie the maintained metabolic switch in border zone cardiomyocytes.

ObjectiveCardiac surgery may cause temporarily impaired ventricular performance and myocardial injury. We aim to characterise the response to perioperative injury for patients undergoing repair or pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) for tetralogy of Fallot (ToF).MethodsWe enrolled children undergoing ToF repair or PVR from four tertiary centres in a prospective observational study. Assessment—including blood sampling and speckle tracking echocardiography—occurred before surgery (T1), at the first follow-up (T2) and 1 year after the procedures (T3). Ninety-two serum biomarkers were expressed as principal components to reduce multiple statistical testing. RNA Sequencing was performed on right ventricular (RV) outflow tract samples.ResultsWe included 45 patients with ToF repair aged 4.3 (3.4 – 6.5) months and 16 patients with PVR aged 10.4 (7.8 – 12.7) years. Ventricular function following ToF repair showed a fall-and-rise pattern for left ventricular global longitudinal strain (GLS) (−18±4 to −13±4 to −20±2, p < 0.001 for each comparison) and RV GLS (−19±5 to −14±4 to 20±4, p < 0.002 for each comparison). This pattern was not seen for patients undergoing PVR. Serum biomarkers were expressed as three principal components. These phenotypes are related to: (1) surgery type, (2) uncorrected ToF and (3) early postoperative status. Principal component 3 scores were increased at T2. This increase was higher for ToF repair than PVR. The transcriptomes of RV outflow tract tissue are related to patients’ sex, rather than ToF-related phenotypes in a subset of the study population.ConclusionsThe response to perioperative injury following ToF repair and PVR is characterised by specific functional and immunological responses. However, we did not identify factors relating to (dis)advantageous recovery from perioperative injury.Trial registration numberNetherlands Trial Register: NL5129.