Background The aortic valve of the heart experiences constant mechanical stress under physiological conditions. Maladaptive valve injury responses contribute to the development of valvular heart disease. Here, we test the hypothesis that MG 53 (mitsugumin …

Aims: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a disease characterized by an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance and right ventricular (RV) failure. We aimed to determine the effects of human mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC) therapy in a SU5416/hypoxia …

Aims: The renin–angiotensin system (RAS) plays an important role in the pathophysiol- ogy of vascular diseases, especially as a mediator of inflammation and tissue remodelling. Alamandine (Ala1-angiotensin-(1-7)) is a new biologically active peptide …

Rising rates of adiposity in the young pose one of the greatest threats to future population burden of cardiovascular disease. Understanding the contribution of genetic and early-life influences to adiposity profiles in young adulthood – when the first …

Cardiomyopathy is a leading cause of death for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Here, we find that the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) can share common ligands but play distinct roles in dystrophic heart and skeletal muscle …

Accumulating evidence suggests that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) plays a role in the progression of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Clinically-approved epidermal growth factor inhibitors such as gefi- tinib, erlotinib, and lapatinib have …

Although conventional genetic modification approaches for protein knockdown work very successfully due to the increasing use of CRISPR/Cas9, effective techniques for achieving protein depletion in adult animals, especially in large animals such as …

Background and aims: Gestational diabetes (GDM) and maternal obesity are linked to weight gain in childhood and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease later in life. We assessed the effects of GDM and maternal obesity on arterial function and …

Background Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as important mediators of cardiac pathophysiology. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of an lncRNA lncR-30245 on cardiac fibrogenesis and the underlying mechanism. Methods …

Aortic aneurysm is the most life-threatening complication in Marfan syndrome (MFS) patients. Doxycycline, a nonselective matrix metalloproteinases inhibitor, was reported to improve the contractile function and elastic fiber structure and organization in …