NF-κB p65 Attenuates Cardiomyocyte PGC-1α Expression in Hypoxia

Hypoxia exerts broad effects on cardiomyocyte function and viability, ranging from altered metabolism and mitochondrial physiology to apoptotic or necrotic cell death. The transcriptional coactivator peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α) is a key regulator of cardiomyocyte metabolism and mitochondrial function and is down-regulated in hypoxia; however, the underlying mechanism is incompletely resolved. Using primary rat cardiomyocytes coupled with electrophoretic mobility shift and luciferase assays, we report that hypoxia impaired mitochondrial energetics and resulted in an increase in nuclear localization of the Nuclear Factor-κB (NF-κB) p65 subunit, and the association of p65 with the PGC-1α proximal promoter. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), an activator of NF-κB signaling, similarly reduced PGC-1α expression and p65 binding to the PGC-1α promoter in a dose-dependent manner, and TNFα-mediated down-regulation of PGC-1α expression could be reversed by the NF-κB inhibitor parthenolide. RNA-seq analysis revealed that cardiomyocytes isolated from p65 knockout mice exhibited alterations in genes associated with chromatin remodeling. Decreased PGC-1α promoter transactivation by p65 could be partially reversed by the histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A. These results implicate NF-κB signaling, and specifically p65, as a potent inhibitor of PGC-1α expression in cardiac myocyte hypoxia.