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Abstract
This Podcast features an interview with Sarah Schumacher and Walter Koch, authors of a Research Article that appears in the 22 March 2016 issue of Science Signaling, about a peptide that can inhibit pathological cardiac hypertrophy in mice. Untreated or poorly controlled high blood pressure can cause the walls of the heart to thicken, a condition known as cardiac hypertrophy, which can lead to heart failure. Signaling from G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) through the G protein Gαq promotes cardiac hypertrophy. GPCR kinase 2 (GRK2) inhibits Gαq in cultured cells, and the abundance of GRK2 is increased in hypertrophic hearts, suggesting that GRK2 may contribute to heart failure. Schumacher et al. found that expressing a peptide corresponding to the domain of GRK2 that binds to and inhibits Gαq can reduce cardiac hypertrophy in response to pressure overload in mice.