Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a public health problem that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and death. By promoting heart failure, cardiac hypertrophy is an important pathology in CKD and affects up to 90% of patients by the time they reach dialysis. Elevated serum levels of bone-derived fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 23 are a common, early metabolic complication of CKD that is strongly associated with cardiovascular events and mortality. In recent experimental studies, we demonstrated that in this context, FGF23 might act as a causal factor by directly targeting cardiac myocytes and inducing cardiac hypertrophy. We could show that FGF23 can specifically activate FGF receptor isoform 4 (FGFR4) and subsequent PLC?/calcineurin/NFAT signaling leading to hypertrophic growth of cardiac myocytes that occurs independently of elevations in blood pressure. Administration of an FGFR4-specific blocking antibody reduced cardiac hypertrophy in the 5/6 nephrectomy rat model of CKD, suggesting that pharmacological interference with myocardial FGF23/FGFR4 signaling might serve as a novel cardio-protective therapeutic approach in CKD. Here, we will study if active vitamin D (VitD) and soluble klotho (sKL), two endocrine factors with known cardio-protective functions and whose serum levels are significantly reduced in CKD, confer their anti-hypertrophic actions by blocking FGF23/FGFR4/PLC?/calcineurin/NFAT signaling in cardiac myocytes. This hypothesis is supported by our preliminary data showing that sKL and VitD block FGF23-induced hypertrophic growth of cultured cardiac myocytes.
In Aim 1, we will determine if these inhibitory actions of sKL and VitD are associated with a reduction in FGF23-induced PLC? and NFAT activity. Our preliminary work indicates that VitD inhibits the FGFR4/PLC? interaction in FGF23-stimulated cardiac myocytes, and we will study if activated VitD receptor (VDR) can directly bind PLC? and/or FGFR4 to block PLC? activation post FGF23 treatment. Klotho is a transmembrane protein that binds to FGFRs and acts as co-receptor for FGF23 in the kidney. Here, we will determine if sKL can also interact with FGF23 and/or FGFR4 thereby blocking FGF23/FGFR4 binding and subsequent PLC?/calcineurin/NFAT signaling in cardiac myocytes. It has been shown that administration of VitD or sKL in rodent models of CKD reduces cardiac hypertrophy, and our preliminary data in 5/6 nephrectomized rats indicates that VitD inhibits myocardial calcineurin/NFAT activity.
In Aim 2, we will determine if delivery of VitD or sKL can block FGFR4/PLC?/calcineurin/NFAT signaling in 5/6 nephrectomized rats and reduce cardiac hypertrophy. Furthermore, we will study if administration of VitD or sKL to an established genetic mouse model for cardiac hypertrophy induced by expression of a constitutively active FGFR4 mutant form, inhibits FGFR4/PLC?/calcineurin/NFAT signaling and improves cardiac morphology and function. We postulate that by interfering with FGF23-induced cardiac hypertrophy, administration of sKL and VitD might serve as a novel therapeutic strategy to tackle cardiac injury and death in patients with CKD.
Cardiac hypertrophy is an important mechanism of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death of a large number of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). In patients with CKD, circulating levels of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) are markedly elevated, levels of active vitamin D and soluble klotho (sKL) are severely depressed, and each of these alterations contributes to cardiac hypertrophy. In this proposal, we will characterize the crosstalk between FGF23, vitamin D and sKL signaling in the heart, and test beneficial cardiac effects of a novel therapeutic approach that combines administration of vitamin D and sKL in rodent models of CKD.
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| Krick, Stefanie; Grabner, Alexander; Baumlin, Nathalie et al. (2018) Fibroblast growth factor 23 and Klotho contribute to airway inflammation. Eur Respir J 52: |
| Grabner, Alexander; Schramm, Karla; Silswal, Neerupma et al. (2017) FGF23/FGFR4-mediated left ventricular hypertrophy is reversible. Sci Rep 7:1993 |
