Abstract
Curcumin is a naturally occurring p300-histone acetyltransferase (p300-HAT) inhibitor that suppresses cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and the development of heart failure in experimental animal models. To enhance the therapeutic potential of curcumin against heart failure, we produced a series of synthetic curcumin analogues and investigated their inhibitory activity against p300-HAT. The compound with the strongest activity was further evaluated to determine its effects on cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and pressure overload-induced heart failure in mice. We synthesised five synthetic curcumin analogues and found that a compound we have named GO-Y030 most strongly inhibited p300-HAT activity. Furthermore, 1 μM GO-Y030, in a manner equivalent to 10 µM curcumin, suppressed phenylephrine-induced hypertrophic responses in cultured cardiomyocytes. In mice undergoing transverse aortic constriction surgery, administration of GO-Y030 at a mere 1% of an equivalently-effective dose of curcumin significantly attenuated cardiac hypertrophy and systolic dysfunction. In addition, this low dose of GO-Y030 almost completely blocked histone H3K9 acetylation and eliminated left ventricular fibrosis. A low dose of the synthetic curcumin analogue GO-Y030 effectively inhibits p300-HAT activity and markedly suppresses the development of heart failure in mice.