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The Role of Cardiokines in Heart Diseases: Beneficial or Detrimental?
Ye-Shun Wu1, Bin Zhu2, Ai-Lin Luo3
1Department of Cardiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Changzhou 213003, China.
Insights
Cardiovascular disease is a major global health issue. This review explores cardiokines, heart-secreted proteins, as potential therapeutic targets for heart conditions.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Molecular Biology
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the primary cause of death globally.
- There is a critical need for novel therapeutic strategies targeting CVDs.
- Emerging research highlights the heart's role as an endocrine organ.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the role of cardiokines in cardiovascular disease pathogenesis.
- To discuss the potential of cardiokines as therapeutic targets for heart diseases.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of studies on cardiokines and heart disease.
- Analysis of the physiological roles of specific cardiokines.
- Evaluation of cardiokines as potential therapeutic agents.
Main Results:
- Cardiokines are proteins secreted by the heart.
- These proteins are crucial for maintaining heart homeostasis and responding to injury.
- Dysregulation of cardiokines is implicated in the development of heart diseases.
Conclusions:
- Cardiokines represent a promising area for therapeutic intervention in cardiovascular diseases.
- Targeting specific cardiokines may offer novel treatment strategies for heart conditions.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality, imposing a major disease burden worldwide. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify new therapeutic targets. Recently, the concept that the heart acts as a secretory organ has attracted increasing attention. Proteins secreted by the heart are called cardiokines, and they play a critical physiological role in maintaining heart homeostasis or responding to myocardial damage and thereby influence the development of heart diseases. Given the critical role of cardiokines in heart disease, they might represent a promising therapeutic target. This review will focus on several cardiokines and discuss their roles in the pathogenesis of heart diseases and as potential therapeutics.
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