Background: Angiotensin (Ang)-II impairs the function of the antihypertensive enzyme ACE2 by promoting its internalization, ubiquitination and degradation thus contributing to hypertension. However, few ACE2 ubiquitination partners have been identified and their role in hypertension remains unknown.
Methods: Proteomics and bioinformatic analysis were used to identify ACE2 ubiquitination partners in the brain, heart, and kidney from Ang-II-infused C57BL6/J mice from both sexes and validated the interaction between UBR1 and ACE2 in cells. Central and peripheral UBR1 knockdown was then performed in male mice to investigate its role in the maintenance of hypertension.
Results: Proteomics analysis from hypothalamus identified UBR1 as a potential E3 ligase promoting ACE2 ubiquitination. Enhanced UBR1 expression, associated with ACE2 reduction, was confirmed in various tissues from hypertensive male mice and human samples. Treatment of endothelial and smooth muscle cells with testosterone, but not 17β-estradiol, confirmed a sex-specific regulation of UBR1. In vivo silencing of UBR1 using chronic administration of small interference RNA resulted in the restoration of ACE2 levels in hypertensive males. A transient decrease in blood pressure following intracerebroventricular, but not systemic, infusion was also observed. Interestingly, UBR1 knockdown increased the brain activation of Nedd4-2, an E3 ligase promoting ACE2 ubiquitination and reduced expression of SGK1, the kinase inactivating Nedd4-2. Conclusions: These data demonstrate that UBR1 is a novel ubiquitin ligase targeting ACE2 in hypertension. UBR1 and Nedd4-2 E3 ligases appear to work synergistically to ubiquitinate ACE2. Targeting of these ubiquitin ligases may represent a novel strategy to restore ACE2 compensatory activity in hypertension.