The fire within: cardiac inflammatory signaling in health and disease
Matthew Coggins1, Anthony Rosenzweig
1Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Insights
Inflammation plays a key role in heart disease, sometimes causing harm and other times aiding healing. Understanding these complex inflammatory signaling pathways is crucial for developing effective heart disease treatments.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Science
- Immunology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Inflammatory mediators are central to the pathogenesis of common heart diseases.
- While often detrimental, inflammatory pathways can also contribute to cardiac healing and injury limitation.
- Understanding myocardial homeostasis and pathophysiology necessitates elucidating specific cardiac inflammatory signaling pathways.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide context for detailed reviews on cardiac inflammation.
- To introduce major stimuli, receptors, and pathways mediating inflammatory signaling in the heart.
- To highlight the complexity and interactions of these pathways with cell survival and metabolism signaling.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing literature on inflammatory signaling in the heart.
- Synthesis of information on stimuli, receptors, and signaling cascades.
- Analysis of interactions between inflammatory and metabolic/survival pathways.
Main Results:
- Inflammatory pathways are complex and interact with cell survival and metabolism.
- The dual role of inflammation (deleterious vs. healing) in heart disease is highlighted.
- The scope and complexity of cardiac inflammatory signaling are presented.
Conclusions:
- Therapeutic targeting of inflammatory mechanisms in heart disease presents significant challenges.
- The complexity of these pathways may explain the limited success of current anti-inflammatory treatments for heart disease.
- Further research into specific signaling pathways is warranted for improved therapeutic strategies.
Abstract:
Inflammatory mediators are operative in the pathogenesis of the most common forms of heart disease. Although in most cases the induction of these pathways is maladaptive and deleterious, there are notable exceptions when inflammatory pathways participate in healing or limiting the extent of injury. The appreciation of the role of these mechanisms in myocardial homeostasis and pathophysiology has led to increased efforts to elucidate the specific signaling pathways most relevant to the heart. Our goal in this introductory overview is to provide context for the five detailed reviews that follow by introducing the major relevant stimuli, the receptors, and pathways that mediate inflammatory signaling in the heart. We try to impart a sense of the scope and complexity of these pathways, as well as their interactions with signaling pathways regulating cell survival and metabolism. These complexities underscore the potential challenges of therapeutically targeting inflammatory mechanisms in heart disease and may help explain the mostly disappointing results of this approach to date.
Related Concept Videos
01:21Myocarditis I: Introduction
01:28Inflammation: Introduction
01:28Inflammatory Response
Inflammation can be triggered by various stimuli, such as impact, abrasion, chemical irritation, infections, and extreme hot or cold temperatures. These can damage cells and connective tissue fibers,...
01:19Blood Studies for Cardiovascular System II: CRP, Hcy, and Cardiac Natriuretic Peptide Markers
These markers indicate stress or strain on the heart muscle:
Natriuretic Peptides (BNP)
Cardiac myocytes produce these hormones in response to ventricular stretching...
02:26NF-κB-dependent Signaling Pathway
NF-κB-dependent Signaling Mechanism
The heterodimer of NF-κB...
01:29Pathophysiology of Cardiac Performance