TFEB Overexpression, Not mTOR Inhibition, Ameliorates RagC(S75Y) Cardiomyopathy

A de novo missense variant in Rag GTPase protein C (RagC(S75Y)) was recently identified in a syndromic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patient. However, its pathogenicity and the related therapeutic strategy remain unclear. We generated a zebrafish Rragc(S56Y) (corresponding to human RagC(S75Y)) knock-in (KI) line via TALEN technology. The KI fish manifested cardiomyopathy-like phenotypes and poor survival. Overexpression of RagC(S75Y) via adenovirus infection also led to increased cell size and fetal gene reprogramming in neonatal rat ventricle cardiomyocytes (NRVCMs), indicating a conserved mechanism. Further characterization identified aberrant mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) and transcription factor EB (TFEB) signaling, as well as metabolic abnormalities including dysregulated autophagy. However, mTOR inhibition failed to ameliorate cardiac phenotypes in the RagC(S75Y) cardiomyopathy models, concomitant with a failure to promote TFEB nuclear translocation. This observation was at least partially explained by increased and mTOR-independent physical interaction between RagC(S75Y) and TFEB in the cytosol. Importantly, TFEB overexpression resulted in more nuclear TFEB and rescued cardiomyopathy phenotypes. These findings suggest that S75Y is a pathogenic gain-of-function mutation in RagC that leads to cardiomyopathy. A primary pathological step of RagC(S75Y) cardiomyopathy is defective mTOR–TFEB signaling, which can be corrected by TFEB overexpression, but not mTOR inhibition.