Inhibiting TRIM29 for viral myocarditis

Inhibiting the E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM29 could help treat viral myocarditis by decreasing the SUMOylation and stability of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) kinase PERK, which drives cardiomyocyte ER stress and apoptosis, and suppresses antiviral type I interferon and CD8⁺ T cell responses.

TRIM29 protein expression was higher in heart samples from cardiomyopathy patients, and from mice with cardiotropic virus-induced myocarditis, than in samples from individuals without cardiomyopathy or control mice, respectively. In human and mouse cardiomyocytes, exposure to cardiotropic viruses increased TRIM29 expression compared with vehicle. ...