Early Cytoskeletal Remodeling Drives Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Pathogenesis in MYH6/7 Mutant hiPSC-Derived Cardiomyocytes

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common and deadly cardiac disease characterized by enlarged myocytes, increased myocardial wall thickening, and fibrosis. A majority of HCM cases are associated with mutations in the β-myosin heavy chain (<i>MYH7</i>) converter domain locus, which leads to varied pathophysiological and clinical manifestations. Using base-editing technology, we generated mutant human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) harboring HCM-causing myosin converter domain mutations (<i>MYH7 c.2167C>T [R723C]</i>; <i>MYH6 c.2173C>T [R725C]</i>) to define HCM pathogenesis in vitro. In this study, we integrated transcriptomic analysis with phenotypic and molecular analyses to dissect the HCM disease mechanisms using <i>MYH6/7</i> myosin mutants. Our KEGG analysis of bulk RNA-sequencing data revealed significant upregulation of transcripts associated with HCM in the mutant hiPSC-CMs. Further, in-depth transcriptomic analysis using Gene-Ontology (GO-term) analysis for biological process showed upregulation of several transcripts associated with heart development and disease. Notably, our analysis showed robust upregulation of cytoskeletal transcripts, including actin-cytoskeleton networks, sarcomere components, and other structural proteins in the mutant CMs. Furthermore, cellular and nuclear morphological analysis showed that the <i>MYH6/7</i> mutation induced cellular hypertrophy and increased aspect ratio compared to the isogenic control. Immunostaining experiments showed marked sarcomere disorganization with lower sarcomeric order and higher dispersion in the mutant hiPSC-CMs, highlighting the remodeling of the myofibril arrangement. Notably, the <i>MYH6/7</i> mutant showed reduced cortical F-actin expression and increased central F-actin expression compared to the isogenic control, confirming the cytoskeletal remodeling and sarcomeric organization during HCM pathogenesis. These pathological changes accumulated progressively over time, underscoring the chronic and evolving nature of HCM driven by the <i>MYH6/7</i> mutations. Together, our findings provide critical insights into the cellular and molecular underpinnings of <i>MYH6/7</i>-mutation-associated disease. These findings offer valuable insights into HCM pathogenesis, aiding in future therapies.