- Lange, Stephan;
- Banerjee, Indroneal;
- Carrion, Katrina;
- Serrano, Ricardo;
- Habich, Louisa;
- Kameny, Rebecca;
- Lengenfelder, Luisa;
- Dalton, Nancy;
- Meili, Rudolph;
- Börgeson, Emma;
- Peterson, Kirk;
- Ricci, Marco;
- Lincoln, Joy;
- Ghassemian, Majid;
- Fineman, Jeffery;
- Del Álamo, Juan;
- Nigam, Vishal
Perturbations in biomechanical stimuli during cardiac development contribute to congenital cardiac defects such as hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS). This study sought to identify stretch-responsive pathways involved in cardiac development. miRNA-Seq identified miR-486 as being increased in cardiomyocytes exposed to cyclic stretch in vitro. The right ventricles (RVs) of patients with HLHS experienced increased stretch and had a trend toward higher miR-486 levels. Sheep RVs dilated from excessive pulmonary blood flow had 60% more miR-486 compared with control RVs. The left ventricles of newborn mice treated with miR-486 mimic were 16.9%-24.6% larger and displayed a 2.48-fold increase in cardiomyocyte proliferation. miR-486 treatment decreased FoxO1 and Smad signaling while increasing the protein levels of Stat1. Stat1 associated with Gata-4 and serum response factor (Srf), 2 key cardiac transcription factors with protein levels that increase in response to miR-486. This is the first report to our knowledge of a stretch-responsive miRNA that increases the growth of the ventricle in vivo.