Expression profiling techniques for cardiac molecular phenotyping

Evidence from clinical and experimental heart failure studies indicates that cardiac growth and morphogenesis are important determinants for morbidity and mortality. Characterization of the myocardial gene expression patterns that are associated with these processes may be useful in the search for novel therapeutic strategies. Changes in tissue mRNA abundance have traditionally been monitored by a candidate gene approach, in which transcripts of interest have been analyzed one or several at a time. New methodologies for detecting differentially expressed genes, such as DNA microarrays, and restriction fragment display, are now enabling molecular phenotyping to be performed on a much larger scale. Here we describe our work on the application of these methods and the insights gained into the biology and pathophysiology of the myocardium.