Caspase-1 regulates Ang II-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy via up-regulation of IL-1β

Cardiac hypertrophy is a compensatory response to stress or stimuli, which results in arrhythmia and heart failure. Although multiple molecular mechanisms have been identified, cardiac hypertrophy is still difficult to treat. Pyroptosis is a caspase-1 dependent pro-inflammatory programmed cell death. Caspase-1 is involved in various types of diseases, including hepatic injury, cancers, and diabetes related complications. However, the exact role of caspase-1 in cardiac hypertrophy is yet to be discovered. The present study aimed to explore the possible role of caspase-1 in pathogenesis of cardiac hypertrophy. We established cardiac hypertrophy models both in vivo and in vitro to detect the expression of caspase-1 and IL-1β. The results showed that caspase-1 and IL-1β expression levels were significantly upregulated during cardiac hypertrophy. Subsequently, caspase-1 inhibitor was co-administered with angiotensin II (Ang II) in cardiomyocytes to observe whether it could attenuate cardiac hypertrophy. Results showed that caspase-1 attenuated the pro-hypertrophic effect of Ang II, which was related to the downregulation of caspase-1 and IL-1β. In conclusion, our results provide a novel evidence that caspase-1 mediated pyroptosis is involved in cardiac hypertrophy, and the inhibition of caspase-1 will offer a therapeutic potential against cardiac hypertrophy.