Microarray gene expression profiling of transgenic mice with myocardium-specific expression of RKIP or a GRK-specific peptide inhibitor

Abstract

The Raf kinase inhibitor protein (RKIP) is a dual inhibitor of the Raf kinase and the G-protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2). GRK2 is an indispensable kinase, which exerts a major role in the pathogenesis of heart failure, and inhibition of GRK2 is cardioprotective in experimental models of heart failure. To investigate the cardiac function of RKIP as GRK2 inhibitor, we generated transgenic mice with myocardium-specific expression of RKIP under control of the alpha-MHC promoter. For comparison, mice with myocardium-specific expression of a GRK-specific peptide inhibitor (GRK-Inh) were also generated. Two different transgenic mouse models were established. Transgenic RKIP mice and transgenic GRK-Inh mice were born at Mendelian frequencey and grew to adulthood normally.