miR-24-3p secreted as extracellular vesicle cargo by cardiomyocytes inhibits fibrosis in human cardiac microtissues

Background and aims: Cardiac fibrosis in response to injury leads to myocardial stiffness and heart failure. At the cellular level, fibrosis is triggered by the conversion of cardiac fibroblasts (CF) into extracellular matrix-producing myofibroblasts. miR-24-3p regulates this process in animal models. Here, we investigated whether miR-24-3p plays similar roles in human models.

Methods and results: Gain- and loss-of-function experiments were performed using human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hCM) and primary hCF under normoxic or ischaemia-simulating conditions. hCM-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) were added to hCF. Similar experiments were performed using three-dimensional human cardiac microtissues and ex vivo-cultured human cardiac slices.hCF transfection with miR-24-3p mimic prevented TGFβ1-mediated induction of FURIN, CCND1 and SMAD4-miR-24-3p target genes participating in TGFβ1-dependent fibrinogenesis -, regulating hCF-to-myofibroblast conversion. hCM secreted miR-24-3p as EV cargo. hCM-derived EVs modulated hCF activation. Ischaemia-simulating conditions induced miR-24-3p depletion in hCM-EVs and microtissues. Similarly, hypoxia downregulated miR-24-3p in cardiac slices. Analyses of clinical samples revealed decreased miR-24-3p levels in circulating EVs in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients, compared with healthy subjects. Post-mortem RNAScope analysis showed miR-24-3p downregulation in myocardium from AMI patients, compared with patients who died from noncardiac diseases. Berberin, a plant-derived agent with miR-24-3p-stimulatory activity, increased miR-24-3p contents in hCM-EVs, downregulated FURIN, CCND1 and SMAD4, and inhibited fibrosis in cardiac microtissues.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that hCM may control hCF activation through miR-24-3p secreted as EV cargo. Ischaemia impairs this mechanism, favouring fibrosis.