miR-1 Overexpression Enhances Ca2+ Release and Promotes Cardiac Arrhythmogenesis by Targeting PP2A Regulatory Subunit B56α and Causing CaMKII-Dependent Hyperphosphorylation of RyR2

MicroRNAs are small endogenous noncoding RNAs that regulate protein expression by hybridization to imprecise complementary sequences of target mRNAs. Changes in abundance of muscle-specific microRNA, miR-1, have been implicated in cardiac disease, including arrhythmia and heart failure. However, the specific molecular targets and cellular mechanisms involved in the action of miR-1 in the heart are only beginning to emerge. In this study we investigated the effects of increased expression of miR-1 on excitation-contraction coupling and Ca2+ cycling in rat ventricular myocytes using methods of electrophysiology, Ca2+ imaging and quantitative immunoblotting. Adenoviral-mediated overexpression of miR-1 in myocytes resulted in a marked increase in the amplitude of the inward Ca2+ current, flattening of Ca2+ transients voltage dependence, and enhanced frequency of spontaneous Ca2+ sparks while reducing the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ content as compared with control. In the presence of isoproterenol, rhythmically paced, miR-1-overexpressing myocytes exhibited spontaneous arrhythmogenic oscillations of intracellular Ca2+, events that occurred rarely in control myocytes under the same conditions. The effects of miR-1 were completely reversed by the CaMKII inhibitor KN93. Although phosphorylation of phospholamban was not altered, miR-1 overexpression increased phosphorylation of the ryanodine receptor (RyR2) at S2814 (Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase) but not at S2808 (protein kinase A). Overexpression of miR-1 was accompanied by a selective decrease in expression of the protein phosphatase PP2A regulatory subunit B56 alpha involved in PP2A targeting to specialized subcellular domains. We conclude that miR-1 enhances cardiac excitation-contraction coupling by selectively increasing phosphorylation of the L-type and RyR2 channels via disrupting localization of PP2A activity to these channels. (Circ Res. 2009;104:514-521.)