Significance of HDAC3 and UCH-L1 expression in dilated cardiomyopathy with myocardial fibrosis:report of 35 cases

ZHOU Haotan; CHEN Dong; HAN Liyuan; YU Wei; LIAN Guoliang; WANG Jiaqi; ZHENG Menghan

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1007-8096.2025.08.001

Abstract：Objective To analyze the pathological morphological changes of the heart specimens from dilated cardiomyopathy(DCM)patients,as well as the expression and distribution characteristics of HDAC3 and UCH-L1 proteins.Methods A total of 35 DCM cases jointly diagnosed by clinical,imaging and pathological methods from January 2018 to December 2023 in Beijing Anzhen Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University were collected as the experimental group,and autopsy heart samples from 20 patients with non-cardiogenic accidental death were collected as the control group.Clinical data and pathologic characteristics were analyzed to observe the expression levels of two proteins.Results There were 9 females and 26 males in the experimental group.Age ranged from 13 to 68 years,with a median age of 53 years.There were significant differences in heart weight,transverse diameter,anterior and posterior diameter,left ventricular wall thickness and right ventricular wall thickness between the two groups(P＜0.05).There was no significant difference between the two longitudinal diameters(P＞0.05).Masson staining showed focal fibrous tissue hyperplasia and perivascular fibrous tissue hyperplasia in the myocardium of all 35 samples in the experimental group.Sirius red staining showed that the collagen fibers in the myocardium were mainly type Ⅰ collagen fibers.Compared with the control group,the expression of HDAC3 protein in the fibrotic and non-fibrotic areas of the experimental group was significantly different(P＜0.05),while the expression of UCH-L1 protein was not significantly different(P＞0.05).There were no significant differences in the expression levels of HDAC3 and UCH-L1 protein between fibrotic and non-fibrotic groups(P＞0.05).The average optical density(AOD)value of HDAC3 protein in the fibrotic region of the experimental group was significantly positively correlated with the degree of myocardial fibrosis(r=0.650,P=0.001,P＜0.05).The AOD value of UCH-L1 protein in the fibrotic region was positively correlated with the degree of myocardial fibrosis,but the correlation was weak(r=0.120,P=0.091,P＞0.05).There were no significant differences in the expression of HDAC3 and UCH-L1 protein between different genders(P＞0.05).Conclusions DCM is a common type of cardiomyopathy with a poor prognosis.HDAC3 protein is closely associated with the development of myocardial fibrosis in DCM patients and has great potential to become a therapeutic target for myocardial fibrosis.