Anti-apoptotic function of the E2F transcription factor 4 (E2F4)/p130, a member of retinoblastoma gene family in cardiac myocytes

The E2F4-p130 transcriptional repressor complex is a cell-cycle inhibitor in mitotic cells. However, the role of E2F4/p130 in differentiated cells is largely unknown. We investigated the role of E2F4/p130 in the regulation of apoptosis in postmitotic cardiomyocytes. Here we demonstrate that E2F4 can inhibit hypoxia-induced cell death in isolated ventricular cardiomyocytes. As analyzed by chromatin immunoprecipitation, the E2F4-p130-repressor …