The co-chaperone Bcl2-associated athanogene-3 (BAG3) maintains cellular protein quality control through the regulation of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70). Cancer cells manipulate BAG3-HSP70-regulated pathways for tumor initiation and proliferation, which has led to the development of promising small molecule therapies, such as JG-98, which inhibit the BAG3-HSP70 interaction and mitigate tumor growth. However, it is not known how these broad therapies impact cardiomyocytes, where the BAG3-HSP70 complex is a key regulator of protein turnover and contractility. Here, we show that JG-98 exposure is toxic in neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs). Using immunofluorescence microscopy to assess cell death, we found that apoptosis increased in NRVMs treated with JG-98 doses as low as 10 nM. JG-98 treatment also reduced autophagy flux and altered expression of BAG3 and several binding partners involved in BAG3-dependent autophagy, including SYNPO2 and HSPB8. We next assessed protein half-life with disruption of the BAG3-HSP70 complex by treating with JG-98 in the presence of cycloheximide and found BAG3, HSPB5, and HSPB8 half-lives were reduced, indicating that complex formation with HSP70 is important for their stability. Next, we assessed sarcomere structure using super-resolution microscopy and found that disrupting the interaction with HSP70 leads to sarcomere structural disintegration. To determine whether the effects of JG-98 could be mitigated by pharmacological autophagy induction, we cotreated NRVMs with rapamycin, which partially reduced the extent of apoptosis and sarcomere disarray. Finally, we investigated whether the effects of JG-98 extended to skeletal myocytes using C2C12 myotubes and found again increased apoptosis and reduced autophagic flux. Together, our data suggest that nonspecific targeting of the BAG3-HSP70 complex to treat cancer may be detrimental for cardiac and skeletal myocytes.

Diabetes doubles the risk of developing heart failure, independent of coronary artery disease and hypertension. The mechanisms connecting these two diseases are poorly understood, although we have previously shown one connection is likely due to methylglyoxal (MGO), a highly reactive glycolysis byproduct that can irreversibly modify lysine (K) and arginine (R) residues in a process called glycation. We found MGO glycation of the myofilament decreased calcium sensitivity and maximum calcium activated force in diabetes. Here we hypothesized MGO may further impact function by competing for lysine residues that would otherwise be targets for acetylation, which has been shown to impact cardiac function. To assess this hypothesis, non-failing human left ventricular (LV) myocardial tissue was exposed to MGO (100 μM) or vehicle and then the treated with acetic anhydride in acetonitrile (300 μM, Ac 2 O-ACN) overnight. Ac 2 O-ACN increased myofilament protein acetylation in both groups, but this effect was greatly reduced in samples pre-treated with MGO, suggesting these two PTMs do compete for a subset of lysine residues. To discover the specific sites of this acetylation-glycation crosstalk, we compared mass spectrometry data sets from diabetic humans, MGO treated mouse myocytes, and acetylated myocytes, which revealed sites of crosstalk on actin, myosin, and myosin light chains - proteins essential for normal contractile function. Importantly, these glycation-acetylation crosstalk sites were found in human samples and the data suggest the balance of these may change in disease states. To explore the functional consequence(s) of this crosstalk, we incubated human LV isolated skinned myocytes with Ac 2 O-ACN (300 μM, overnight), which enhanced function by significantly increasing calcium sensitivity. However, pre-treatment with MGO (100 μM) completely blocked this functional effect of acetylation. Together, these data demonstrate that glycation and acetylation compete for certain myofilament lysine residues, and that glycation can block the beneficial functional effects of acetylation. These results provide insight into the molecular mechanisms behind diabetic cardiomyopathy and the utility of targeting acetylation clinically.

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