Myosin ATPase inhibition fails to rescue the metabolically dysregulated proteome of nebulin-deficient muscle

Nemaline myopathy (NM) is a genetic muscle disease, primarily caused by mutations in the NEB gene (NEB-NM) and with muscle myosin dysfunction as a major molecular pathogenic mechanism. Recently, we have observed that the myosin biochemical super-relaxed state was significantly impaired in NEB-NM, inducing an aberrant increase in ATP consumption and remodelling of the energy proteome in diseased muscle fibres. Because the small-molecule Mavacamten is known to promote the myosin super-relaxed state and reduce the ATP demand, we tested its potency in the context of NEB-NM. We first conducted in vitro experiments in isolated single myofibres from patients and found that Mavacamten successfully reversed the myosin ATP overconsumption. Following this, we assessed its short-term in vivo effects using the conditional nebulin knockout (cNeb KO) mouse model and subsequently performing global proteomics profiling in dissected soleus myofibres. After a 4 week treatment period, we observed a remodelling of a large number of proteins in both cNeb KO mice and their wild-type siblings. Nevertheless, these changes were not related to the energy proteome, indicating that short-term Mavacamten treatment is not sufficient to properly counterbalance the metabolically dysregulated proteome of cNeb KO mice. Taken together, our findings emphasize Mavacamten potency in vitro but challenge its short-term efficacy in vivo.

Key points

• No cure exists for nemaline myopathy, a type of genetic skeletal muscle disease mainly derived from mutations in genes encoding myofilament proteins.
• Applying Mavacamten, a small molecule directly targeting the myofilaments, to isolated membrane-permeabilized muscle fibres from human patients restored myosin energetic disturbances.
• Treating a mouse model of nemaline myopathy in vivo with Mavacamten for 4 weeks, remodelled the skeletal muscle fibre proteome without any noticeable effects on energetic proteins.
• Short-term Mavacamten treatment may not be sufficient to reverse the muscle phenotype in nemaline myopathy.