SIRT2 counteracts primate cardiac aging via deacetylation of STAT3 that silences CDKN2B

Aging is a major risk factor contributing to pathophysiological changes in the heart, yet its intrinsic mechanisms have been largely unexplored in primates. In this study, we investigated the hypertrophic and senescence phenotypes in the hearts of aged cynomolgus monkeys as well as the transcriptomic and proteomic landscapes of young and aged primate hearts. SIRT2 was identified as a key protein decreased in aged monkey hearts, and engineered SIRT2 deficiency in human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes recapitulated key senescence features of primate heart aging. Further investigations revealed that loss of SIRT2 in human cardiomyocytes led to the hyperacetylation of STAT3, which transcriptionally activated CDKN2B and, in turn, triggered cardiomyocyte degeneration. Intra-myocardial injection of lentiviruses expressing SIRT2 ameliorated age-related cardiac dysfunction in mice. Taken together, our study provides valuable resources for decoding primate cardiac aging and identifies the SIRT2–STAT3–CDKN2B regulatory axis as a potential therapeutic target against human cardiac aging and aging-related cardiovascular diseases. Ye et al. characterize the cardioprotective effect of SIRT2 in primates and reveal an important role for the SIRT2–STAT3–CDKN2B regulatory axis in primate cardiac aging, improving understanding of the epigenetic mechanism governing cardiac aging.