Background Human heart failure (HF) is associated with decreased cardiac voltage-gated Na+ channel current (encoded by SCN5A), and the changes have been implicated in the increased risk of sudden death in HF. Nevertheless, the mechanism of SCN5A downregulation is unclear. A number of human diseases are associated with alternative mRNA splicing, which has received comparatively little attention in the study of cardiac disease. Splicing factor expression profiles during human HF and a specific splicing pathway for SCN5A regulation were explored in this paper. Methods and Results Gene array comparisons between normal human and heart failure tissues demonstrated that 17 splicing factors, associated with all major spliceosome components, were upregulated. Two of these splicing factors, RBM25 and LUC7L3, were elevated in human heart failure tissue and mediated truncation of SCN5A mRNA in both Jurkat cells and human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hESC-CMs). RBM25/LUC7L3-mediated abnormal SCN5A mRNA splicing reduced Na+ channel current 91.1 ± 9.3% to a range known to cause sudden death. Overexpression of either splicing factor resulted in an increase in truncated mRNA and a concomitant decrease in the full-length SCN5A transcript. Conclusions Of the 17 mRNA splicing factors upregulated in HF, RBM25 and LUC7L3 were sufficient to explain the increase in truncated forms and the reduction in full length Na+ channel transcript. Since the reduction in channels was in the range known to be associated with sudden death, interruption of this abnormal mRNA processing may reduce arrhythmic risk in heart failure.

Diastolic dysfunction (DD) with preserved left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) has been linked to obesity. Adiponectin is a cytokine related to obesity and obesity-linked cardiovascular complications. The authors aimed to determine the independent association of DD with adiponectin. Fifty patients with impaired relaxation DD and a normal EF and age-matched normal controls were recruited. Plasma levels of total and high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin were measured. Mid and low molecular weight (MMW+LMW) fractions of adiponectin were calculated by subtracting HMW fraction from total adiponectin. The DD group had significantly lower total (median, 4.4 vs 12.7 μg/mL; P=.001), HMW fraction (median, 1.3 vs 3.4 μg/mL; P=.02), and MMW+LMW fraction of adiponectin (median, 3.8 vs 7.2 μg/mL; P=.01). Body mass index (BMI) negatively correlated with total (r:−0.46, P=.003), HMW (r:−0.32, P=.038), and MMW+LMW (r:−0.40, P=.006) fractions of adiponectin. DD had an independent association with both BMI (P<.05) and total adiponectin (P<.001) in linear regression model using sex, BMI, blood pressure, and total adiponectin as covariates. DD was associated with BMI (P=.02), HMW fraction (P=.03), and MMW+LMW fraction (P=.004) in similar linear regression analyses. Adiponectin deficiency may be one explanation for the adiposity-related cardiac oxidation known to be involved in the pathogenesis of DD.

Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the association of SCN5A cardiac sodium (Na+) channel mRNA splice variants in white blood cells (WBCs) with risk of arrhythmias in heart failure (HF). Background HF is associated with upregulation of two cardiac SCN5A mRNA splice variants. that encode prematurely truncated, nonfunctional Na+ channels. Since circulating WBCs demonstrate similar SCN5A splicing patterns, we hypothesized that these WBC-derived splice variants might further stratify HF patients at risk for arrhythmias. Methods Simultaneously obtained myocardial core samples and WBCs were compared for SCN5A variants C (VC) and D (VD). Circulating variant levels were compared between HF patients divided into three groups: HF without an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), HF with an ICD without appropriate intervention, and HF with an ICD with appropriate intervention. Results Myocardial tissue-derived SCN5A variant expression levels strongly correlated with circulating WBC samples for both VC and VD variants (r = 0.78 and 0.75, respectively). After controlling for covariates, HF patients who had received an appropriate ICD intervention had higher expression levels of both WBC-derived SCN5A variants compared to HF patients with ICDs who had not (OR= 3.25 (95% CI 1.64–6.45; p=0.001)). Receiver operating characteristics analysis revealed that circulating SCN5A variants levels were highly associated with the risk for appropriate ICD intervention (area under the curve ≥ 0.97). Conclusions Circulating expression levels of SCN5A variants were strongly associated with myocardial tissue levels. Furthermore, circulating variant levels were correlative with arrhythmic risk as measured by ICD events in a HF population within one year.