Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Mediates Cardiac Remodeling and Ventricular Dysfunction After Pressure Overload State

Background— Pressure overload is accompanied by cardiac myocyte apoptosis, hypertrophy, and inflammatory/fibrogenic responses that lead to ventricular remodeling and heart failure. Despite incomplete understanding of how this process is regulated, the upregulation of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α after aortic banding in the myocardium is known. In the present study, we tested our hypothesis that TNF-α regulates the cardiac inflammatory response, extracellular matrix homeostasis, and ventricular hypertrophy in response to mechanical overload and contributes to ventricular dysfunction. Methods and Results— C57/BL wild-type mice and TNF-knockout (TNF −/− ) mice underwent descending aortic banding or sham operation. Compared with sham-operated mice, wild-type mice with aortic banding showed a significant increase in cardiac TNF-α levels, which coincided with myocyte apoptosis, inflammatory response, and cardiac hypertrophy in week 2 and a significant elevation in matrix metalloproteinase-9 activity and impaired cardiac function in weeks 2 and 6. Compared with wild-type mice with aortic banding, TNF −/− mice with aortic banding showed attenuated cardiac apoptosis, hypertrophy, inflammatory response, and reparative fibrosis. These mice also showed reduced cardiac matrix metalloproteinase-9 activity and improved cardiac function. Conclusions— Findings from the present study have suggested that TNF-α contributes to adverse left ventricular remodeling during pressure overload through regulation of cardiac repair and remodeling, leading to ventricular dysfunction.