title: Intercellular communication lessons in heart failure.
abstract: Cell-cell or inter-organ communication allows the exchange of information and messages, which is essential for the coordination of cell/organ functions and the maintenance of homeostasis. It has become evident that dynamic interactions of different cell types play a major role in the heart, in particular during the progression of heart failure, a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Heart failure is associated with compensatory structural and functional changes mostly in cardiomyocytes and cardiac fibroblasts, which finally lead to cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and fibrosis. Intercellular communication within the heart is mediated mostly via direct cell-cell interaction or the release of paracrine signalling mediators such as cytokines and chemokines. However, recent studies have focused on the exchange of genetic information via the packaging into vesicles as well as the crosstalk of lipids and other paracrine molecules within the heart and distant organs, such as kidney and adipose tissue, which might all contribute to the pathogenesis of heart failure. In this review, we discuss emerging communication networks and respective underlying mechanisms which could be involved in cardiovascular disease conditions and further emphasize promising therapeutic targets for drug development.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS), IFB-Tx, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bang
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Charalambos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Antoniades
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Alexios S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Antonopoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Tissue Biology Group, Division of Vascular Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Institute for Cardiovascular Research, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Constantijn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franssen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Institute for Cardiovascular Research, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.|Department of Cardiovascular Physiology, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Nazha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hamdani
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Lorenz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lehmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Tissue Biology Group, Division of Vascular Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moessinger
authors.affiliation: Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine and Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mongillo
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, Tissue Biology Group, Division of Vascular Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Muhl
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine IV, Nephrology and Hypertension, Saarland University Hospital, Homburg/Saar, Germany.
authors.forename: Thimoteus
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Speer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS), IFB-Tx, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.|Excellence Cluster REBIRTH, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.|National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, UK.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Thum
mesh_terms: D018450:Disease Progression; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000502:physiology; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000378:metabolism*; D058628:Myofibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism*; D019899:Paracrine Communication / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Heart failure; cell-cell communication; inter-organ communication; paracrine signalling mediators