# Atorvastatin Protects Against Deleterious Carfilzomib-Induced Transcriptional Changes in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes

## TL;DR

Atorvastatin partially protects against harmful gene changes caused by carfilzomib in heart cells derived from human stem cells.

## Contribution

This study identifies a transcriptional signature of carfilzomib-induced cardiotoxicity and evaluates atorvastatin's protective effects in human cardiomyocytes.

## Key findings

- Carfilzomib upregulates proteasome subunit genes and activates stress-response pathways in cardiomyocytes.
- Atorvastatin partially reverses CFZ-induced changes in lipid and cholesterol pathways but not sarcomeric gene downregulation.
- The study reveals a multifactorial transcriptional signature of CFZ-induced cardiotoxicity.

## Abstract

The mechanisms underlying carfilzomib (CFZ)-induced cardiotoxicity remain incompletely elucidated. In this study, we used human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs) to characterize the transcriptional impact of CFZ and to evaluate whether atorvastatin could prevent these deleterious transcriptional changes. hiPSC-CMs were treated with 1 µM CFZ, CFZ + atorvastatin, atorvastatin, or vehicle control, followed by RNA sequencing, differential expression analyses, and pathway analyses. Transcriptomic profiling revealed a marked upregulation of genes in multiple proteasome subunits, including ATPase components (PSMC1, PSMC4, PSMC5, PSMC6) and non-ATPase regulatory subunits (PSMD1, PSMD2, PSMD12), suggesting a strong compensatory activation of proteostasis and protein quality-control pathways in response to CFZ exposure. In addition, several of the most significantly altered genes were those implicated in cardiomyopathy and heart failure, such as BAG3 and FLNC, and many heat-shock proteins, indicating the activation of cardiac stress–response pathways relevant to CFZ-associated cardiotoxicity. Atorvastatin co-treatment partially reversed a subset of CFZ-induced transcriptional changes, particularly within cholesterol biosynthesis and lipid-regulatory pathways (e.g., ACAT2 and ACTA1) but did not restore the CFZ-mediated downregulation of sarcomeric genes. Together, these findings define a multifactorial signature of deleterious CFZ-induced transcriptional changes and suggest that atorvastatin may provide partial metabolic, but not structural, cardio protection.