β-catenin/LEF1/IGF-IIR Signaling Axis Galvanizes the Angiotensin-II-induced Cardiac Hypertrophy

Cardiovascular diseases have a high prevalence worldwide and constitute the leading causes of mortality. Recently, malfunctioning of β-catenin signaling has been addressed in hypertensive heart condition. Ang-II is an important mediator of cardiovascular remodeling processes which not only regulates blood pressure but also leads to pathological cardiac changes. However, the contribution of Ang-II/β-catenin axis in hypertrophied hearts is ill-defined. Employing in vitro H9c2 cells and in vivo spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) cardiac tissue samples, western blot analysis, luciferase assays, nuclear-cytosolic protein extracts, and immunoprecipitation assays, we found that under hypertensive condition β-catenin gets abnormally induced that co-activated LEF1 and lead to cardiac hypertrophy changes by up-regulating the IGF-IIR signaling pathway. We identified putative LEF1 consensus binding site on IGF-IIR promoter that could be regulated by β-catenin/LEF1 which in turn modulate the expression of cardiac hypertrophy agents. This study suggested that suppression of β-catenin expression under hypertensive condition could be exploited as a clinical strategy for cardiac pathological remodeling processes.