eIF4G2-dependent translation of pro-fibrotic mRNAs is essential for cardiac fibroblast activation (Polysome-Seq)

RNA-binding proteins control gene expression in cardiac fibroblasts during TGFb-driven fibrotic responses, including the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4G2 (eIF4G2), which was known to facilitate alternative mRNA translation during cellular stresses. However, the precise role of eIF4G2 in cardiac fibroblast activation in response to fibrotic stress remains unclear. In this study, we found increased eIF4G2 protein levels in the hearts of heart failure patients and myocardial infarcted mice, as well as in TGFb-treated immortalized human and primary mouse cardiac fibroblasts. Depletion of eIF4G2 led to predominant translational downregulation of genes that are enriched in focal adhesion and extracellular matrix pathways. eIF4G2 knockdown reduced the proliferation, migration, and collagen secretion of TGFb-treated cardiac fibroblasts. Mechanistically, we found that the translation of IGFBP7 mRNA relies on eIF4G2, which is crucial for ECM production in response to pro-fibrotic stimuli. The interaction between eIF4G2 and a DEAD box RNA helicase DDX24 can regulate IGFBP7 protein expression in cardiac fibroblasts. Together, these findings suggest that the TGFb-eIF4G2-IGFBP7 axis establishes a novel translational regulatory circuit that governs cardiac fibroblast activation. Furthermore, conditional knockout of Eif4g2 in POSTN-positive myofibroblasts reduced cardiac fibrosis in the myocardial infarction mouse model, thus improving cardiac function. Our study provides insights into the molecular mechanism of eIF4G2-mediated translational regulation of crucial physiological mRNAs during cardiac fibroblast activation. Overall design: We performed polysome-seq on IHCF cells knockdown with scramble shRNA and eIF4G2 shRNA. Total RNA and polysome-associated RNA extracted from IHCF cells were subjected to RNA-seq. Biological triplicates were performed. Samples were subjected to DNA removal by DNase I and polyA enrichment before library construction by NGS Library Prep following the manufacturer's protocols. Paired-end sequencing was conducted at Novogene using NovaSeq6000 S4 with a depth of 20M reads/sample.