The Involvement of the Ubiquitin Proteasome System in the Healthy and Diseased Heart
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 26
Special Issue Editor
Interests: modeling inherited cardiac pathologies by means of patients' iPSC-derived cardiomyocyte
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The UPS is one of the two major proteolytic systems in eukaryotic cells. The selective degradation of substrate proteins is facilitated via their conjugation with moieties of ubiquitin, a 9 KDa protein that serves as the recognition signal for protein removal. Ubiquitinated proteins are recognized by the catalytic arm of the UPS—the proteasome complex responsible for protein breakdown into short peptides, which are further catalyzed into amino acids. The UPS plays a key role in cardiac pathophysiology, as cardiomyocytes with very limited self-renewal capacity are particularly prone to protein damage due to constant mechanical and metabolic stress. Recent evidence suggests that the UPS is involved in virtually all cellular processes, and decreased proteasomal activity has been reported in animal models and human studies of coronary ischemia/reperfusion injury, heart failure and cardiomyopathies. Various cellular mechanisms, such as the regulation of pro-apoptotic proteins and altered expression of ion channels, were described in the context of the proteasome dysfunction observed in pressure overload-induced heart failure in mice. Further, UPS impairment caused by the E334K mutation in cardiac myosin-binding protein C (cMyBPC) modifies the levels of channel proteins (e.g., K(v)1.5, Na(v)1.5, HCN4, Ca(v)3.2, Ca(v)1.2, SERCA, RyR2, and NCX1), leading to electrophysiological dysfunction, which may partly contribute to the clinical arrhythmias observed in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients.
Due to the importance of the UPS, this Special Issue will focus on the emerging role of the UPS in healthy and diseased hearts in cell and animal models, as well as on novel studies using pharmacological targeting of the UPS to alleviate cardiac pathologies.
Prof. Dr. Ofer Binah
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- UPS
- ubiquitin
- proteasome
- cardiac pathophysiology
- coronary ischemia/reperfusion injury
- heart failure
- cardiomyopathies
- E334K mutation
- cMyBPC
- electrophysiological dysfunction
- hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
- pharmacological targeting
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
