Abstract 18619: Scaffold Protein CARD11 Modulates Receptor Mediated Apoptosis in Cardiomyocytes Following Myocardial Infarction

Background: The CARD scaffold family members, named for containing the common caspase-recruitment domain, are important modulators of inflammatory and apoptotic signalling. CARD11, a membrane bound scaffold, is essential for the production of cytokines in the immune cellular response but is present in heart and lung tissue, where its effects are unknown, and described to associate with apoptotic players such as BCL10 and caspase-8. Due to the complex nature of cardiac response to myocardial infarction (MI), we hypothesize that CARD11 can act as a modulator and integrator of receptor mediated apoptotic pathways following cardiac tissue injury. Methods & Results: CARD11 expression was increased in neonatal cardiomyocytes by general stress induction by H2O2 (25μM) and death receptor activation by Fas agonist Jo2 (1μg/ml) and TNF-alpha (50ng/ml) in isolated neonatal cardiomyocytes. Annexin V (AV) and propidium iodide (PI) double staining demonstrated decreased levels of apoptotic cells (AV+/PI+) following H2O...