A Decoy Peptide Targeted to Protein Phosphatase 1 Attenuates Degradation of SERCA2a in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Abstract

Neointimal growth in the injured vasculature is largely facilitated by the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC), which associates with reduced sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA2a) activity. The gene transfer-mediated restoration of the SERCA2a level thus attenuates neointimal growth and VSMC proliferation. We previously reported that a peptide targeted to protein phosphatase 1, ψPLB-SE, normalizes SERCA2a activity in cardiomyocytes. In this study, we found that ψPLB-SE attenuated neointimal growth in balloon-injured rat carotid arteries, and the proliferation and migration of VSMC cultured in high-serum media (synthetic conditions). In parallel, ψPLB-SE inhibited the degradation of SERCA2a in the injured carotid arteries and VSMC under synthetic conditions. The calpain inhibitor MDL28170 also attenuated SERCA2a degradation and VSMC proliferation under synthetic conditions, indicating that calpain degrades SERCA2a. The Ca2+ ionophore A23187 induced SERCA2a degradation in VSMC, which was blocked by either ψPLB-SE or MDL28170. Additionally, ψPLB-SE normalized the cytosolic Ca2+ level in VSMC that was increased by either A23187 or synthetic stimulation. Collectively, these data indicate that ψPLB-SE corrects the abnormal Ca2+ handling by activating SERCA2a, which further protects SERCA2a from calpain-dependent degradation in VSMC. We conclude that ψPLB-SE may form the basis of a therapeutic strategy for vascular proliferative disorders.

SERCA2a ameliorates cardiomyocyte T-tubule remodeling via the calpain/JPH2 pathway to improve cardiac function in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion mice

“…In a previous study, Jang et al . found that the calpain inhibitor, MDL28170 attenuated SERCA2a degradation in balloon-injured rat carotid arteries 43 . Previous study found that beta-arrestin2 increased SERCA2a activity 44 .…”

Decoy Technology as a Promising Therapeutic Tool for Atherosclerosis

“…SERCA2a activity is inhibited by a direct interaction with phospholamban, whose inhibitory activity is enhanced by dephosphorylation by protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) [ 43 ]. Therefore, the inhibition of the PP1-mediated dephosphorylation of PLB is a promising approach to upregulate SERCA2a activity [ 44 ].…”

“…Furthermore, ψPLB-SE could also inhibit SERCA2a degradation in injured rat carotid arteries. They concluded that ψPLB-SE could correct the handling of abnormal Ca2+ by activating SERCA2a [ 44 ].…”