USP20 deletion promotes eccentric cardiac remodeling in response to pressure overload and increases mortality

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) caused by chronic pressure overload with subsequent pathological remodeling is a major cardiovascular risk factor for heart failure and mortality. The role of deubiquitinases in LVH has not been well characterized. To define whether the deubiquitinase ubiquitin-specific peptidase 20 (USP20) regulates LVH, we subjected USP20 knockout (KO) and cognate wild-type (WT) mice to chronic pressure overload by transverse aortic constriction (TAC) and measured changes in cardiac function by serial echocardiography followed by histological and biochemical evaluations. USP20-KO mice showed severe deterioration of systolic function within 4 wk of TAC compared with WT cohorts. Both USP20-KO TAC and WT-TAC cohorts presented cardiac hypertrophy following pressure overload. However, USP20-KO-TAC mice showed an increase in cardiomyocyte length and developed maladaptive eccentric hypertrophy, a phenotype generally observed with volume overload states and decompensated heart failure. In contrast, WT-TAC mice displayed an increase in cardiomyocyte width, producing concentric remodeling that is characteristic of pressure overload. In addition, cardiomyocyte apoptosis, interstitial fibrosis, and mouse mortality were augmented in USP20-KO-TAC compared with WT-TAC mice. Quantitative mass spectrometry of LV tissue revealed that the expression of sarcomeric myosin heavy chain 7 (MYH7), a fetal gene normally upregulated during cardiac remodeling, was significantly reduced in USP20-KO after TAC. Mechanistically, we identified increased degradative lysine-48 polyubiquitination of MYH7 in USP20-KO hearts, indicating that USP20-mediated deubiquitination likely prevents protein degradation of MYH7 during pressure overload. Our findings suggest that USP20-dependent signaling pathways regulate the layering pattern of sarcomeres to suppress maladaptive remodeling during chronic pressure overload and prevent cardiac failure.