Agonists of growth hormone-releasing hormone stimulate self-renewal of cardiac stem cells and promote their survival

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Abstract

The beneficial effects of agonists of growth hormone-releasing hormone receptor (GHRH-R) in heart failure models are associated with an increase in the number of ckit+ cardiac stem cells (CSCs). The goal of the present study was to determine the presence of GHRH-R in CSCs, the effect of GHRH-R agonists on their proliferation and survival, and the mechanisms involved. We investigated the expression of GHRH-R in CSCs of different species and the effect of GHRH-R agonists on their cell proliferation and survival. GHRH-R is expressed in ckit+ CSCs isolated from mouse, rat, and pig. Treatment of porcine CSCs with the GHRH-R agonist JI-38 significantly increased the rate of cell division. Similar results were observed with other GHRH-R agonists, MR-356 and MR-409. JI-38 exerted a protective effect on survival of porcine CSCs under conditions of oxidative stress induced by exposure to hydrogen peroxide. Treatment with JI-38 before exposure to peroxide significantly reduced cell death. A similar effect was observed with MR-356. Addition of GHRH-R agonists to porcine CSCs induced activation of ERK and AKT pathways as determined by increased expression of phospho-ERK and phospho-AKT. Inhibitors of ERK and AKT pathways completely reversed the effect of GHRH-R agonists on CSC proliferation. Our findings extend the observations of the expression of GHRH-R by CSCs and demonstrate that GHRH-R agonists have a direct effect on proliferation and survival of CSCs. These results support the therapeutic use of GHRH-R agonists for stimulating endogenous mechanisms for myocardial repair or for preconditioning of stem cells before transplantation.

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Florea, V., Majid, S. S., Kanashiro-Takeuchi, R. M., Cai, R. Z., Block, N. L., Schally, A. V., … Rodrigues, C. O. (2014). Agonists of growth hormone-releasing hormone stimulate self-renewal of cardiac stem cells and promote their survival. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(48), 17260–17265. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1420375111

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