Impairment of the ubiquitin‐proteasome system in desminopathy mouse hearts

Protein misfolding and aberrant aggregation are associated with many severe disorders, such as neural degenerative diseases, desmin‐related myopathy (DRM), and congestive heart failure. Intrasarcoplasmic amyloidosis and increased ubiquitinated proteins are observed in human failing hearts. The pathogenic roles of these derangements in the heart remain unknown. The ubiquitin‐proteasome system (UPS) plays a central role in intracellular proteolysis and regulates critical cellular processes. In cultured cells, aberrant aggregation by a mutant (MT) or misfolded protein impairs the UPS. However, this has not been demonstrated in intact animals, and it is unclear how the UPS is impaired. Cross‐breeding UPS reporter mice with a transgenic mouse model of DRM featured by aberrant protein aggregation in cardiomyocytes, we found that overexpression of MT‐desmin but not normal desmin protein impairs UPS proteolytic function in the heart. The primary defect does not appear to be in the ubiquitination or the proteolytic activity of the 20S proteasome, because ubiquitinated proteins and the peptidase activities of 20S proteasomes were significantly increased rather than decreased in the DRM heart. Therefore, the defect resides apparently in the entry of ubiquitinated proteins into the 20S proteasome. Consistent with this notion, key components (Rpt3 and Rpt5) of 19S proteasomes were markedly decreased, while major components of 20S proteasomes were increased. Additional experiments with HEK cells suggest that proteasomal malfunction observed in MT‐desmin hearts is not secondary to cardiac malfunction or to disruption of desmin filaments. Thus, UPS impairment may represent an important pathogenic mechanism underlying cardiac disorders with abnormal protein aggregation.