Heart failure impairs the mechanotransduction properties of human cardiac pericytes

Aim of this work is to verify if pericytes (Pc) residing in ischemic failing human hearts display altered mechano-transduction properties and to assess which alterations of the mechano-sensing machinery are associated with the observed impaired response to mechanical cues. Results: microvascular rarefaction and defects of YAP/TAZ activation characterize failing human hearts. Although both donor (D-) and explanted (E-) heart derived cardiac pericytes (CPc) support angiogenesis, D-CPc exert this effect significantly better than E-CPc. The latter are characterized by reduced focal adhesion density, decreased activation of the focal adhesion kinase (FAK)/ Crk-associated substrate(CAS) pathway, low expression of caveolin-1, and defective transduction of extracellular stiffness into cytoskeletal stiffening, together with an impaired response to both fibronectin and lysophosphatidic acid. Importantly, Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase inhibition restores YAP/TAZ nuclear translocation.