Open AccessTowards a BETter understanding of cardiac fibrosis
Author(s) -
Elizabeth S. Stout,
David A. Elliott,
Enzo R. Porrello
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
the journal of cardiovascular aging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2768-5993
DOI - 10.20517/jca.2022.15
Subject(s) - chromatin remodeling , myofibroblast , cardiac fibrosis , fibrosis , chromatin , biology , fibroblast , microbiology and biotechnology , cancer research , bioinformatics , medicine , pathology , gene , genetics , in vitro
Fibroblast activation is a hallmark feature of pathological remodeling of the heart and represents an attractive target for therapeutic intervention. Pharmacological inhibition of chromatin remodeling enzymes reduces cardiac fibrosis, but the underlying transcriptional regulatory mechanisms remain poorly understood. Using single-cell genomics to profile alterations in the transcriptional and chromatin landscape during stress-induced cardiac remodeling, Alexanian et al. discovered a critical role for Mesenchyme Homeobox 1 in the regulation of myofibroblast activation and cardiac fibrosis. We briefly review these important findings and comment on the significance of their work.