RSK3: A regulator of pathological cardiac remodeling.

The family of p90 ribosomal S6 kinases (RSK) are pleiotropic effectors for extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathways. Recently, RSK3 was shown to be important for pathological remodeling of the heart. While cardiac myocyte hypertrophy can be compensatory for increased wall stress, in chronic heart diseases this non-mitotic cell growth is usually associated with interstitial fibrosis, increased cell death, and decreased cardiac function. Although RSK3 is less abundant in the cardiac myocyte than other RSK family members, RSK3 appears to serve a unique role in cardiac myocyte stress responses. A potential mechanism conferring RSK3’s unique function in the heart is anchoring by the scaffold protein muscle A-kinase Anchoring Protein β (mAKAPβ). Recent findings suggest that RSK3 should be considered as a therapeutic target for the prevention of heart failure, a clinical syndrome of major public health significance.