miR-448 regulates potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily A member 4 (KCNA4) in ischemia and heart failure.

BACKGROUND

MicroRNA miR-448 mediates some of the effects of ischemia on arrhythmic risk. Potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily A member 4 (KCNA4) encodes a K1.4 current that opens in response to membrane depolarization and is essential for regulating the action potential duration in heart. KCNA4 has a miR-448 binding site.

OBJECTIVE

We investigated whether miR-448 was involved in the regulation of KCNA4 messenger RNA expression in ischemia.

METHODS

Quantitative real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was used to investigate the expression of KCNA4 and miR-448. Pull-down assays were used to examine the interaction between miR-448 and KCNA4. miR-448 decoy and binding site mutation were used to examine the specificity of the effect for KCNA4.

RESULTS

The expression of KCNA4 is diminished in ischemia and human heart failure tissues with ventricular tachycardia. Previously, we have shown that miR-448 is upregulated in ischemia and inhibition can prevent arrhythmic risk after myocardial infarction. The 3'-untranslated region of KCNA4 has a conserved miR-448 binding site. miR-448 bound to this site directly and reduced KCNA4 expression and the transient outward potassium current. Inhibition of miR-448 restored KCNA4.

CONCLUSION

These findings showed a link between K1.4 downregulation and miR-448-mediated upregulation in ischemia, suggesting a new mechanism for the antiarrhythmic effect of miR-448 inhibition.