Myosin modulator Aficamten inhibits force in cardiac muscle by altering myosin's biochemical activity without changing thick filament structure

Background: Inhibiting contractility by targeting cardiac Myosin is an effective treatment for patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Aficamten is a second in class Myosin Inhibitor with promising clinical data showing improvements in hemodynamics and symptoms in patients with HCM. While it is known that Aficamten inhibits force and cardiomyocyte contractility by stabilizing the weak pre-powerstroke conformation, effects on Myosin structure and kinetics during loaded contraction are lacking.

Methods: Permeabilized porcine cardiac tissue and myofibrils were used for single-molecule imaging of ATP turn over, X-ray diffraction, and mechanical measurements. Engineered heart tissues from human induced pluripotent stem cell cardiomyocytes were used to evaluate effects on force and contraction kinetics.

Results: In contrast to Mavacamten, Aficamten does not structurally sequester Myosin heads along the thick filament. Aficamten inhibits ATPase activity by shifting Myosin heads from higher to slower ATPase state, with the emergence of a super slow biochemical nucleotide turnover state. This results in decreased force and calcium sensitivity without altering cross-bridge cycling. These contractile mechanical changes are comparable to Mavacamten. Our myofibril mechanical assay showed inhibition of force with accelerated relaxation. In EHTs, while Mavacamten and Aficamten inhibit cardiac twitch forces, Mavacamten reduces the activation kinetics while both result in faster relaxation.

Conclusions: We used a combination of biochemical and biomechanical assays to show that Aficamten inhibits Myosin ATPase without appreciably altering Myosin structure. This is different from Mavacamten that strongly affects both. While both compounds inhibit contractility, differences in mechanisms of action and kinetics of force activation and relaxation could allow use in different patient populations.