# Deciphering Myofilament Modifications in Ischemic Cardiomyopathy

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2024 · $374,035

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 Myocardial infarction (MI) is the most common cause of heart failure (HF), but the molecular mechanisms
underlying cardiac dysfunction in the post-MI myocardium remain unclear. Moreover, current treatments for HF
mainly focus on symptom management after maladaptive ventricular remodeling has occurred. However, a
comprehensive understanding of molecular changes at the early-phase (adaptive) remodeling could aid in the
development of treatments to prevent late-phase (maladaptive) remodeling and HF. Ventricular remodeling is
characterized by alterations in the sarcomere composed of myofilaments flanked by Z-discs. The post-
translational modifications (PTMs) of the sarcomeric proteins regulate contractility. Moreover, cardiac contractility
highly depends on ATP generation and thus impairment in the ATP-generating processes can rapidly lead to
contractile dysfunction. The onset of ischemia is known to be associated with dramatic alterations in cardiac
metabolism. PTMs of metabolic enzymes play a key role in regulating the metabolic pathways. Therefore, we
hypothesize that concerted dysregulations of sarcomeric and metabolic protein modifications contribute to
contractile dysfunction at the early-phase post-MI ventricular remodeling. To test our hypothesis, we will employ
a novel systems biology approach enabled by multi-omics integrating top-down proteomics and metabolomics
with in vivo and ex vivo functional studies to delineate the molecular mechanism underlying early-phase post-MI
ventricular remodeling. This novel multi-omics method allows accurate assessment of changes in the proteome
and metabolome from the same heart tissue sample to understand the concerted dysregulation of sarcomeric
and metabolic PTMs and metabolites. Moreover, we will use a combination of a large animal (swine) MI model
and clinical ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) tissues to accelerate translation of our findings to aid in diagnostic
and therapeutic interventions in humans. Aim 1 will identify concerted changes in the myofilament and Z-disc
proteins in post-MI swine myocardium and relate to contractile dysfunction in both sexes. Aim 2 will determine
the metabolic alterations in both proteome and metabolome in the post-MI remodeling. Aim 3 will identify
sarcomeric and metabolic markers in ICM patient myocardium and assess their functional consequences in
consideration of comorbidities and sex differences. This interdisciplinary and translational/clinical application
is highly significant with a strong scientific premise and a novel hypothesis of direct clinical relevance. It
will provide a comprehensive study to globally characterize a variety of PTMs in metabolic and sarcomeric
proteins as well as the interplay between dysregulation between cardiac metabolism and contractile dysfunction.
It has direct translational potential leading to an in-depth understanding of the underlying mechanisms at the
early-phase post-MI remodeling and discovery of new s...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10878801
- **Project number:** 5R01HL109810-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** Ying Ge
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $374,035
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2013-03-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10878801

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10878801, Deciphering Myofilament Modifications in Ischemic Cardiomyopathy (5R01HL109810-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10878801. Licensed CC0.

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