Background-Adenylyl cyclases (ACs) are a family of effector molecules for G-protein-coupled receptors. The 2 ACs most abundantly expressed in cardiac myocytes are types 5 (AC5) and 6 (AC6), which have 65% amino acid homology. It has been speculated that coexpression of 2 AC types in cardiac myocytes represents redundancy, but the specific role of AC6 in cardiac physiology and its differences from AC5 remain to be defined. Methods and Results-We generated transgenic mice with targeted deletion of AC6. Deletion of AC6 was associated with reduced left ventricular contractile function (Pϭ0.026) and relaxation (Pϭ0.041). The absence of AC6 was associated with a 48% decay in ␤-adrenergic receptor-stimulated cAMP production in cardiac myocytes (Pϭ0.003) and reduced protein kinase A activity (Pϭ0.015). In addition, phospholamban phosphorylation was reduced (Pϭ0.015), sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca 2ϩ -ATPase activity was impaired (PϽ0.0001), and cardiac myocytes showed marked abnormalities in calcium transient formation (Pϭ0.001). Conclusions-The

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Urocortin-2 (UCn2) peptide infusion increases cardiac function in patients with heart failure, but chronic peptide infusion is cumbersome, costly, and provides only short-term benefits. Gene transfer would circumvent these shortcomings. Here we ask whether a single intravenous injection of adeno-associated virus type 8 encoding murine urocortin-2 (AAV8.UCn2) could provide long-term elevation in plasma UCn2 levels and increased left ventricular (LV) function. Normal mice received AAV8.UCn2 (5 · 10 11 genome copies, intravenous). Plasma UCn2 increased 15-fold 6 weeks and > 11-fold 7 months after delivery. AAV8 DNA and UCn2 mRNA expression was persistent in LV and liver up to 7 months after a single intravenous injection of AAV8.UCn2. Physiological studies conducted both in situ and ex vivo showed increases in LV + dP/dt and in LV -dP/dt, findings that endured unchanged for 7 months. SERCA2a mRNA and protein expression was increased in LV samples and Ca 2 + transient studies showed an increased rate of Ca 2 + decline in cardiac myocytes from mice that had received UCn2 gene transfer. We conclude that a single intravenous injection of AAV8.UCn2 increases plasma UCn2 and increases LV systolic and diastolic function for at least 7 months. The simplicity of intravenous injection of a long-term expression vector encoding a gene with paracrine activity to increase cardiac function is a potentially attractive strategy in clinical settings. Future studies will determine the usefulness of this approach in the treatment of heart failure.

Congestive heart failure is associated with increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and the levels of these cytokines correlate with heart failure severity and prognosis. Chronic interleukin 6 (IL-6) stimulation leads to LV hypertrophy and dysfunction, and deletion of IL-6 reduces LV hypertrophy after angiotensin II infusion. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that IL-6 deletion has favorable effects on pressure-overloaded hearts. We performed transverse aortic constriction on IL-6-deleted (IL6KO) mice and C57BL/6J mice (CON) to induce pressure overload. Pressure overload was associated with similar LV hypertrophy, dilation, and dysfunction in CON and IL6KO mice. Re-activation of the fetal gene program was also similar in pressure-overloaded CON and IL6KO mice. There were no differences between CON and IL6KO mice in LV fibrosis or expression of extracellular matrix proteins after pressure overload. In addition, no group differences in apoptosis or autophagy were seen. These data indicate that IL-6 deletion does not block LV remodeling and dysfunction induced by pressure overload. Attenuated content of interleukin 11 appears to be a compensatory mechanism for IL-6 deletion in pressure-overloaded hearts. We infer from these data that limiting availability of IL-6 alone is not sufficient to attenuate LV remodeling and dysfunction in failing hearts.