Myocardial fibrosis: biomedical research from bench to bedside.
Myocardial fibrosis refers to a variety of quantitative and qualitative changes in the interstitial myocardial collagen network that occur in response to cardiac ischaemic insults, systemic diseases, drugs, or any other harmful stimulus affecting the circulatory system or the heart itself. Myocardial fibrosis alters the architecture of the myocardium, facilitating the development of cardiac dysfunction, also inducing arrhythmias, influencing the clinical course and outcome of heart failure patients. Focusing on myocardial fibrosis may potentially improve patient care through the targeted diagnosis and treatment of emerging fibrotic pathways. The European Commission funded the FIBROTARGETS consortium as a multinational academic and industrial consortium with the primary aim of performing a systematic and collaborative search of targets of myocardial fibrosis, and then translating these mechanisms into individualized diagnostic tools and specific therapeutic pharmacological options for heart failure. This review focuses on those methodological and technological aspects considered and developed by the consortium to facilitate the transfer of the new mechanistic knowledge on myocardial fibrosis into potential biomedical applications.
Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
Mariann
M
Gyöngyösi
Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
Johannes
J
Winkler
Innovative Technologies in Biological Systems SL (INNOPROT), Bizkaia, Spain.
Isbaal
I
Ramos
Greenpharma SAS, Orléans, France.
Quoc-Tuan
QT
Do
Firalis S.A.S., Huningue, France.
Hüseyin
H
Firat
University College Dublin, Ireland.
Kenneth
K
McDonald
Program of Cardiovascular Diseases, Center for Applied Medical Research, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.
Arantxa
A
González
Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies, Hannover Medical School, Germany.|National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, UK.
Thomas
T
Thum
Program of Cardiovascular Diseases, Center for Applied Medical Research, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.|Department of Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, University of Navarra Clinic, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.
Javier
J
Díez
Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers, Inserm U1138, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France.
Frédéric
F
Jaisser
UMRS U1116 Inserm, CIC 1433, Pierre Drouin, CHU, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France.
Anne
A
Pizard
UMRS U1116 Inserm, CIC 1433, Pierre Drouin, CHU, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France.
Faiez
F
Zannad
D000818:Animals; D035843:Biomedical Research; D005355:Fibrosis; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical
Animal models; Biomarkers; Cardiac imaging; Myocardial fibrosis