Interleukin-10-mediated Activation of AKT and Bcl2 Inhibits Chronic Angiotensin II-induced Pathological Autophagy

Rationale: Although, autophagy is an essential cellular salvage process to maintain cellular homeostasis, pathological (stress-induced exaggerated/defective) autophagy can lead to cardiac abnormalities and ultimately heart failure. Therefore, a tight regulation of autophagic process would be important to treat chronic heart failure. Previously, we have shown that IL-10 strongly inhibited pressure overload-induced hypertrophy and heart failure, but role of IL-10 in regulation of pathological autophagy is not known. Hypothesis: We tested the hypothesis that IL-10 inhibits angiotensin II-induced pathological autophagy and this process, in part, led to improved cardiac function. Methods and Results: Pathological autophagy was induced in wild type (WT) and IL10-knockout (IL-10 KO) mice by angiotensin II (Ang II for 28 days) infusion. Ang II-induced left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and hypertrophic remodeling were accentuated in IL-10 KO mice compared to WT mice. IL-10 KO mice showed exaggerated autophagy as observed by Electron Microscopy and Western blotting (beclin 1, LC3 II/I and CHOP) with reduced AKT phosphorylation at serine-473. In neonatal rat ventricular cardiomyocytes (NRCM), Ang II treatment enhanced beclin1, LC3 and CHOP protein levels and inhibited AKT and 4EBP1 phosphorylation and Bcl2 levels. Interestingly, IL-10 inhibited Ang II-induced autophagic marker proteins. Additionally, IL-10 restored Ang II-induced suppression of AKT and 4EBP1 phosphrylation and restoration of Bcl2 protein level. Pharmacological inhibition of AKT via PI3K inhibitor (LY290002), reversed IL-10 responses on the Ang II-induced pathological autophagy, confirming that IL-10 mediated inhibition of autophagy is AKT dependent. Finally, as physical interaction of Bcl2 with beclin 1 is important to inhibit autophagy, we performed immunoprecipitation pull-down experiments, which showed Ang II disrupts the physical interaction of beclin 1 with Bcl2 and IL-10 reestablished this physical interaction to reduce autophagy. Conclusion: Our data provides a novel role of IL-10 in regulation of pathological autophagy and thus can act as a potential therapeutic molecule in treatment of chronic heart disease.