Science Signaling Podcast for 22 March 2016: Preventing heart failure with GRK2

This Podcast features an interview with Sarah Schumacher and Walter Koch, authors of a Research Article that appears in the 22 March 2016 issue of Science Signaling, about a peptide that can inhibit pathological cardiac hypertrophy in mice. Untreated or poorly controlled high blood pressure can cause the walls of the heart to thicken, a condition known as cardiac hypertrophy, which can lead to heart failure. Signaling from G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) through the G protein Gα promotes cardiac hypertrophy. GPCR kinase 2 (GRK2) inhibits Gα in cultured cells, and the abundance of GRK2 is increased in hypertrophic hearts, suggesting that GRK2 may contribute to heart failure. Schumacher et al. found that expressing a peptide corresponding to the domain of GRK2 that binds to and inhibits Gα can reduce cardiac hypertrophy in response to pressure overload in mice.

Duke Scholars

Author Walter J. Koch Surgery, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery