Faculty Opinions recommendation of Cardiac fibrosis: the fibroblast awakens.

Author(s):  
Giulio Gabbiani
Keyword(s):  
2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R deFilippi ◽  
G Michael Felker ◽  
◽  

For many with heart failure, including the elderly and those with a preserved ejection fraction, both risk stratification and treatment are challenging. For these large populations and others there is increasing recognition of the role of cardiac fibrosis in the pathophysiology of heart failure. Galectin-3 is a novel biomarker of fibrosis and cardiac remodelling that represents an intriguing link between inflammation and fibrosis. In this article we review the biology of galectin-3, recent clinical research and its application in the management of heart failure patients.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yudi Purnomo ◽  
Yvette Piccart ◽  
Tamara Coenen ◽  
John Prihadi ◽  
Paul Lijnen

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 1861
Author(s):  
Jemima Seidenberg ◽  
Mara Stellato ◽  
Amela Hukara ◽  
Burkhard Ludewig ◽  
Karin Klingel ◽  
...  

Background: Pathological activation of cardiac fibroblasts is a key step in development and progression of cardiac fibrosis and heart failure. This process has been associated with enhanced autophagocytosis, but molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. Methods and Results: Immunohistochemical analysis of endomyocardial biopsies showed increased activation of autophagy in fibrotic hearts of patients with inflammatory cardiomyopathy. In vitro experiments using mouse and human cardiac fibroblasts confirmed that blockade of autophagy with Bafilomycin A1 inhibited fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition induced by transforming growth factor (TGF)-β. Next, we observed that cardiac fibroblasts obtained from mice overexpressing transcription factor Fos-related antigen 2 (Fosl-2tg) expressed elevated protein levels of autophagy markers: the lipid modified form of microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3B (LC3BII), Beclin-1 and autophagy related 5 (Atg5). In complementary experiments, silencing of Fosl-2 with antisense GapmeR oligonucleotides suppressed production of type I collagen, myofibroblast marker alpha smooth muscle actin and autophagy marker Beclin-1 in cardiac fibroblasts. On the other hand, silencing of either LC3B or Beclin-1 reduced Fosl-2 levels in TGF-β-activated, but not in unstimulated cells. Using a cardiac hypertrophy model induced by continuous infusion of angiotensin II with osmotic minipumps, we confirmed that mice lacking either Fosl-2 (Ccl19CreFosl2flox/flox) or Atg5 (Ccl19CreAtg5flox/flox) in stromal cells were protected from cardiac fibrosis. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that Fosl-2 regulates autophagocytosis and the TGF-β-Fosl-2-autophagy axis controls differentiation of cardiac fibroblasts. These data provide a new insight for the development of pharmaceutical targets in cardiac fibrosis.


Author(s):  
Rebeca Oliveira Camargo ◽  
Besher Abual'anaz ◽  
Sunil G. Rattan ◽  
Krista L. Filomeno ◽  
Ian M. C. Dixon

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (15) ◽  
pp. 7946
Author(s):  
Chang Youn Lee ◽  
Seahyoung Lee ◽  
Seongtae Jeong ◽  
Jiyun Lee ◽  
Hyang-Hee Seo ◽  
...  

The acute demise of stem cells following transplantation significantly compromises the efficacy of stem cell-based cell therapeutics for infarcted hearts. As the stem cells transplanted into the damaged heart are readily exposed to the hostile environment, it can be assumed that the acute death of the transplanted stem cells is also inflicted by the same environmental cues that caused massive death of the host cardiac cells. Pyroptosis, a highly inflammatory form of programmed cell death, has been added to the list of important cell death mechanisms in the damaged heart. However, unlike the well-established cell death mechanisms such as necrosis or apoptosis, the exact role and significance of pyroptosis in the acute death of transplanted stem cells have not been explored in depth. In the present study, we found that M1 macrophages mediate the pyroptosis in the ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injured hearts and identified miRNA-762 as an important regulator of interleukin 1b production and subsequent pyroptosis. Delivery of exogenous miRNA-762 prior to transplantation significantly increased the post-transplant survival of stem cells and also significantly ameliorated cardiac fibrosis and heart functions following I/R injury. Our data strongly suggest that suppressing pyroptosis can be an effective adjuvant strategy to enhance the efficacy of stem cell-based therapeutics for diseased hearts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanfeng Gao ◽  
Ye Liu ◽  
Yuan Fu ◽  
Qianhui Wang ◽  
Zheng Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction The progression of paroxysmal AF (PAF) to persistent AF (PsAF) worsens the prognosis of AF, but its underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Recently, circular RNAs (circRNAs) were reported to be associated with cardiac fibrosis. In case of the vital role of cardiac fibrosis in AF persistency, we hypothesis that circRNAs may be potential regulators in the process of AF progression. Materials and methods 6 persistent and 6 paroxysmal AF patients were enrolled as derivation cohort. Plasma circRNAs expressions were determined by microarray and validated by RT-PCR. Fibrosis level, manifested by serum TGF-β, was determined by ELISA. Pathways and related non-coding RNAs involving in the progression of AF regulated were predicted by in silico analysis. Results PsAF patients showed a distinct circRNAs expression profile with 92 circRNAs significantly dysregulated (fold change ≥ 2, p < 0.05), compared with PAF patients. The validity of the expression patterns was subsequently validated by RT-PCR in another 60 AF patients (30 PsAF and PAF, respectively). In addition, all the 5 up and down regulated circRNAs were clustered in MAPK and TGF-beta signaling pathway by KEGG pathway analysis. Among the 5 circRNAs, hsa_circ_0004104 was consistently downregulated in PsAF group (0.6 ± 0.33 vs 1.46 ± 0.41, p < 0.001) and predicted to target several AF and/or cardiac fibrosis related miRNAs reported by previous studies. In addition, TGF-β1 level was significantly higher in the PsAF group (5560.23 ± 1833.64 vs 2236.66 ± 914.89, p < 0.001), and hsa_circ_0004104 showed a significant negative correlation with TGF-β1 level (r = − 0.797, p < 0.001). Conclusion CircRNAs dysregulation plays vital roles in AF persistency. hsa_circ_0004104 could be a potential regulator and biomarker in AF persistency by promoting cardiac fibrosis via targeting MAPK and TGF-beta pathways.


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