The ubiquitin system in heart and vessel pathobiology: From mechanisms to therapeutic strategies

Cardiovascular disease is currently a major global challenge, and its causes are complex, encompassing genetic, lifestyle, environmental, and other factors. Ubiquitination, an important post-translational protein modification, is closely associated with cardiovascular disease and is involved in the regulation of protein degradation, signaling, and gene expression. An increasing number of studies have shown that ubiquitination plays a key regulatory role in the development and progression of cardiovascular disease. Recent research has elucidated the crucial role of ubiquitination modifications in governing various cellular processes, signaling pathways, and protein homeostasis within cardiovascular contexts. Specifically, these modifications have been implicated in cardiomyocyte injury and hypertrophy, macrophage inflammation, phenotypic changes in smooth muscle cells, and activation of fibroblasts. This review summarizes the role of ubiquitination modifications in recent years, focusing on the recognition of different substrate proteins by E3 ubiquitin ligases. These ligases are involved in the regulation of various cardiovascular disorders, such as atherosclerosis, myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury, cardiac remodeling, cardiac arrhythmia, and hypertension. The findings provide new insights into the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.