Overexpression of Cardiac-Specific Kinase TNNI3K Promotes Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells Differentiation into Cardiomyocytes

Backgroud/Aims: The biological function of cardiac troponin I-interacting kinase (TNNI3K), a cardiac-specific functional kinase, is largely unknown. We investigated the effect of human TNNI3K (hTNNI3K) on the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) into cardiomyocytes. Methods: First, the time-space expression of endogenous Tnni3k was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and western blotting at 16 different time-points over a period of 28 days. Further, action potentials and calcium current with/without 5 µM nifedipine were measured by patch clamp for mESC-derived cardiomyocytes. HTNNI3K and mouse-derived siRNA were transfected into mESC using lentivirus vector to induce hTNNI3K overexpression and knock-down, respectively. Results: The number of troponin-T (cTnT) positive cells was greater in the group with TNNI3K overexpression as compared to that in control group, while less such cells were detected in the mTnni3k knock-down group as evaluated on flow cytometry (FCM) and ImageXpress Micro system. After upregulation of connexin43, cardiac troponin-I (Ctni), Ctni, Gata4 were detected in mESCs with TNNI3K overexpression; however, overexpression of α-Actinin and Mlc2v was not detected. Interestingly, Ctnt, connexin40 and connexin45, the markers of ventricular, atrial, and pacemaker cells, respectively, were detected in by real-time PCR in TNNI3K overexpression group. Conclusion: our study indicated that TNNI3K overexpression promoted mESC differentiating into beating cardiomyocytes and induced up-regulating expression of cTnT by PKCε signal pathway, which suggested a modulation of TNNI3K activity as a potential therapeutic approach for ischemic cardiac disease.