Vaspin Alleviates Sepsis-Induced Cardiac Injury and Cardiac Inflammation by Inhibiting Kallikrein 7 in Mice

BACKGROUND: Vaspin is an important adipokine that is involved in cardiovascular diseases. This study is aimed at investigating whether vaspin participates in sepsis-induced cardiac injury and explored the possible mechanism. METHODS: First, cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were used to establish a mouse model of sepsis, and cardiac vaspin expression was examined. In addition, after pretreatment with vaspin or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), wild-type (WT) mice underwent CLP to establish a septic model and received sham as a control. Finally, WT mice and kallikrein 7 (KLK7-/-) mice were underwent CLP with or without vaspin pretreatment. RESULTS: Mice that underwent CLP and were administered LPS exhibited increased vaspin expression in both the heart and serum compared with sham- or saline-treated mice. In CLP mice, pretreatment with vaspin reduced mortality and alleviated the expression of cardiac injury markers and cardiac dysfunction. In addition, vaspin reduced the cardiac levels of CD45+ cells and CD68+ cells, alleviated the cardiac inflammatory response, and reduced cardiomyocyte apoptosis. The protective effects of vaspin on CLP mice were masked by the deletion of KLK7, which was demonstrated to be a downstream signal of vaspin. CONCLUSIONS: Vaspin alleviates cardiac inflammation and plays a protective role in sepsis-induced cardiac injury by reducing KLK7 expression.