A-kinase anchoring proteins: molecular regulators of cardiac remodeling and protection

Il 01/06/2018 ore 14.30 - 15.30

Sala Conferenze Cnr, Via P. Castellino, 111 80131 Napoli

Prof. Dario Diviani from Université de Lausanne (Switzerland) will give a seminar on the role of A-kinase anchoring proteins in cardiac protection. Heart failure is a lethal disease that can develop after myocardial infarction, hypertension, or anti-cancer therapy. In the damaged heart, loss of function is essentially due to cardiomyocyte death and associated cardiac remodeling. Therefore, identifying relevant molecular mechanisms controlling cardiomyocyte survival under these pathological conditions could be exploited to prevent cardiac dysfunction.

In this context, A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs) constitute a family of scaffolding proteins that facilitate the spatio-temporal activation of the cyclic AMP dependent protein kinase (PKA) and other transduction enzymes involved in heart pathophysiology. Our recent results indicate that two AKAPs expressed in cardiomyocytes, AKAP-Lbc and AKAP2, orchestrate and synchronize cellular processes favoring cardiomyocyte protection against hypertension and myocardial infarction. In particular, AKAP-Lbc assembles a mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling complex that protect the heart against hypertension-induced myocardial damage, whereas AKAP2 coordinates the activation of myocardial estrogen receptors to promote angiogenesis and cardiomyocyte survival in the infarcted heart. Collectively, these findings identify AKAPs as modulators of survival responses in the stressed heart.

Dario Diviani received his PhD in 1998 from the University of Lausanne for research on alpha-1 adrenergic receptors performed with Prof. Susanna Cotecchia. Between 1998 and 2001, he performed a post doctoral training with Prof. John D. Scott at the Vollum Institute of the Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, where he worked on the molecular mechanism controlling signaling specificity in heart cells.  In 2001, he joined the Department of Pharmacology of the University of Lausanne, as an independent investigator. He currently holds the position of Associate Professor.

Organizzato da:
Ibp-Cnr

Referente organizzativo:
Alberto Luini
Cnr - Istituto di biochimica delle proteine
a.luini@ibp.cnr.it
081/6132722

Modalità di accesso: ingresso libero