Pathological
cardiac hypertrophy is a process characterized by significant disturbance of
protein turnover.
Cullin-associated and Neddylation-dissociated 1 (CAND1) acts as a coordinator to modulate substrate protein degradation by promoting the formation of specific
cullin-based
ubiquitin ligase 3 complex in response to substrate accumulation, which thereby facilitate the maintaining of normal protein homeostasis. Accumulation of
calcineurin is critical in the pathogenesis of
cardiac hypertrophy and
heart failure. However, whether CAND1 titrates the degradation of
hypertrophy related
protein eg.
calcineurin and regulates
cardiac hypertrophy remains unknown. Therefore, we aim to explore the role of CAND1 in
cardiac hypertrophy and
heart failure and the underlying molecular mechanism. Here, we found that the
protein level of CAND1 was increased in cardiac tissues from
heart failure (HF) patients and TAC mice, whereas the
mRNA level did not change. CAND1-KO+ /- aggravated TAC-induced cardiac hypertrophic phenotypes; in contrast, CAND1-Tg attenuated the maladaptive cardiac remodeling. At the molecular level, CAND1 overexpression downregulated, whereas CAND1-KO+ /- or knockdown upregulated
calcineurin expression at both in vivo and in vitro conditions. Mechanistically, CAND1 overexpression favored the assembly of Cul1/atrogin1/
calcineurin complex and rendered the ubiquitination and degradation of
calcineurin. Notably, CAND1 deficiency-induced hypertrophic phenotypes were partially rescued by knockdown of
calcineurin, and application of exogenous CAND1 prevented TAC-induced
cardiac hypertrophy. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that CAND1 exerts a protective effect against
cardiac hypertrophy and
heart failure partially by inducing the degradation of
calcineurin.