Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (
ox-LDL) is a type of modified
cholesterol that promotes apoptosis and
inflammation and advances the progression of
heart failure. Leucine-zipper and sterile-α motif
kinase (ZAK) is a
kinase of the MAP3K family which is highly expressed in the heart and encodes two variants, ZAKα and ZAKβ. Our previous study serendipitously found opposite effects of ZAKα and ZAKβ in which ZAKβ antagonizes ZAKα-induced apoptosis and
hypertrophy of the heart. This study aims to test the hypothesis of whether ZAKα and ZAKβ are involved in the damaging effects of
ox-LDL in the cardiomyoblast. Cardiomyoblast cells H9c2 were treated with different concentrations of
ox-LDL. Cell viability and apoptosis were measured by MTT and TUNEL assay, respectively. Western blot was used to detect apoptosis,
hypertrophy, and pro-survival signaling
proteins. Plasmid transfection, pharmacological inhibition with D2825, and
siRNA transfection were utilized to upregulate or downregulate ZAKβ, respectively.
Ox-LDL concentration-dependently reduces the viability and expression of several pro-survival
proteins, such as phospho-PI3K, phospho-Akt, and Bcl-xL. Furthermore,
ox-LDL increases cleaved
caspase-3, cleaved
caspase-9 as indicators of apoptosis and increases
B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) as an
indicator of
hypertrophy. Overexpression of ZAKβ by plasmid transfection attenuates apoptosis and prevents upregulation of BNP. Importantly, these effects were abolished by inhibiting ZAKβ either by D2825 or siZAKβ application. Our results suggest that ZAKβ upregulation in response to
ox-LDL treatment confers protective effects on cardiomyoblast.