Hypertension-induced cardiovascular hypertrophy and fibrosis are critical in the development of heart failure. The activity of TLRs has been found to be involved in the development of pressure overload-induced myocardial hypertrophy and cardiac fibrosis. We wondered whether vaccine bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), which activated TLR4 to elicit immune responses, modulated the pressure overload-s...

Pathological cardiomyocyte hypertrophy is associated with significantly increased risk of heart failure, one of the leading medical causes of mortality worldwide. MicroRNAs are known to be involved in pathological cardiac remodeling. However, whether miR-99a participates in the signaling cascade leading to cardiac hypertrophy is unknown. To evaluate the role of miR-99a in cardiac hypertrophy, w...

BACKGROUND Angiotensin-converting enzyme 3 (ACE3) is a recently defined homolog of ACE. However, the pathophysiological function of ACE3 is largely unknown. Here, we aim to explore the role of ACE3 in pathological cardiac hypertrophy. METHODS AND RESULTS Neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCMs) with gain and loss of function of ACE3 and mice with global knockout or cardiac-specific overexpression ...

Cardiac hypertrophy is a complex pathological process that involves multiple factors including inflammation and apoptosis. Interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) is a multifunctional regulator that participates in immune regulation, cell differentiation, apoptosis, and oncogenesis. However, the role of IRF7 in cardiac hypertrophy remains unclear. We performed aortic banding in cardiac-specific I...

To improve contractile function, the myocardium undergoes hypertrophic growth without myocyte proliferation in response to both pathologic and physiologic stimulation. Various membrane-bound receptors and intermediate signal transduction pathways regulate the induction of cardiac hypertrophy, but the cardioprotective regulatory pathways or effectors that antagonize cardiac hypertrophy remain po...

As cardiac hypertrophy develops, total cardiac RNA and protein synthesis increase significantly. We have identified specific messenger RNAs that change in predominance with the induction of pressure-overload-stimulated cardiac hypertrophy. Total cardiac RNA was isolated from rats either undergoing cardiac hypertrophy secondary to subdiaphragmatic aortic constriction or subjected to sham surgery...

Stem cell antigen (Sca) 1, a glycosyl phosphatidylinositol-anchored protein localized to lipid rafts, is upregulated in the heart during myocardial infarction and renovascular hypertension-induced cardiac hypertrophy. It has been suggested that Sca-1 plays an important role in myocardial infarction. To investigate the role of Sca-1 in cardiac hypertrophy, we performed aortic banding in Sca-1 ca...

Activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3), which is encoded by an adaptive-response gene induced by various stimuli, plays an important role in the cardiovascular system. However, the effect of ATF3 on cardiac hypertrophy induced by a pathological stimulus has not been determined. Here, we investigated the effects of ATF3 deficiency on cardiac hypertrophy using in vitro and in vivo models. Aorti...

IL-6 has been shown to play a major role in collagen up-regulation process during cardiac hypertrophy, although the precise mechanism is still not known. In this study we have analyzed the mechanism by which IL-6 modulates cardiac hypertrophy. For the in vitro model, IL-6-treated cultured cardiac fibroblasts were used, whereas the in vivo cardiac hypertrophy model was generated by renal artery ...

RATIONALE In Drosophila, the Hippo signaling pathway negatively regulates organ size by suppressing cell proliferation and survival through the inhibition of Yorkie, a transcriptional cofactor. Yes-associated protein (YAP), the mammalian homolog of Yorkie, promotes cardiomyocyte growth and survival in postnatal hearts. However, the underlying mechanism responsible for the beneficial effect of Y...