Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a myocardial disorder that is a major cause of heart failure and death. Recent data indicate that genetic factors are important in the pathogenesis of DCM and may account for at least one-third of cases of "idiopathic" DCM. Apart from a positive family history, there are no specific clinical manifestations that reliably distinguish familial from non-familial DCM,...

BACKGROUND A key issue for cardiovascular genetic medicine is ascertaining if a putative mutation indeed causes dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). This is critically important as genetic DCM, usually presenting with advanced, life-threatening disease, may be preventable with early intervention in relatives known to carry the mutation. METHODS AND RESULTS We recently undertook bidirectional reseque...

BACKGROUND Ventricular arrhythmia (VA) is the most frequent cause of sudden death among patients with non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). AIM To identify the important VA risk factors in patients with DCM. METHODS AND RESULTS Eighty-five DCM patients (73 males, mean age 54 years) with DCM and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) were followed for 21+/-19 months after ICD im...

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a myocardial disease characterized by progressive depression of myocardial contractile function and ventricular dilatation. Thirty percent of DCM patients belong to the inherited genetic form; the rest may be idiopathic, viral, autoimmune, or immune-mediated associated with a viral infection. Disturbances in humoral and cellular immunity have been described in ca...

BACKGROUND Experimental studies indicate that interleukin-6 (IL-6)-related cytokines, signaling via the shared receptor gp130, Janus kinases (JAKs), and signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs), provide a critical cardiomyocyte survival pathway in vivo. Little is known about the activation of this signaling pathway in the myocardia of patients with end-stage dilated cardiomyop...

Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a primary myocardial disorder characterized by ventricular chamber enlargement and systolic dysfunction. Twenty to fifty percent of idiopathic DCM cases are thought to have a genetic cause. Of more than 30 genes known to be associated with DCM, rare variants in the VCL and MYBPC3 genes have been reported in several cases of DCM. In this report, we desc...

CONTEXT Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the most common form of cardiomyopathy and cause of cardiac transplantation in children. However, the epidemiology and clinical course of DCM in children are not well established. OBJECTIVE To provide a detailed description of the incidence, causes, outcomes, and related risk factors for DCM in children. DESIGN AND SETTING Longitudinal study based on ...

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is usually an idiopathic disease with a poor prognosis. Hypocalcemia is a rare and reversible cause of DCM. Here, we report a 50-year-old female with DCM, induced by idiopathic hypoparathyroidism, that improved after treatment with calcium.

BACKGROUND One of the hallmarks of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is left ventricular (LV) remodeling. The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of enzymes that contribute to extracellular remodeling in several disease states. Additionally, a family of inhibitors called tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs) has been shown to exist and to tightly regulate MMP activity. However, the types of MM...

In the pathogenesis of dilated cardiomyopathy, cytoskeletal proteins play an important role. In this study, we analyzed titin expression in left ventricles of 19 control human donors and 9 severely diseased (nonischemic) dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) transplant-patients, using gel-electrophoresis, immunoblotting, and quantitative RT-PCR. Both human-heart groups coexpressed smaller ( 3 MDa) N2B-i...