Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Jan 18:5:F1000 Faculty Rev-72.
doi: 10.12688/f1000research.7278.1. eCollection 2016.

The cardiac enigma: current conundrums in heart failure research

Michael S Kapiloff  1 , Craig A Emter  2
Affiliations
Review

The cardiac enigma: current conundrums in heart failure research

Michael S Kapiloff et al. F1000Res. .

Abstract

The prevalence of heart failure is expected to increase almost 50% in the next 15 years because of aging of the general population, an increased frequency of comorbidities, and an improved survival following cardiac events. Conventional treatments for heart failure have remained largely static over the past 20 years, illustrating the pressing need for the discovery of novel therapeutic agents for this patient population. Given the heterogeneous nature of heart failure, it is important to specifically define the cellular mechanisms in the heart that drive the patient's symptoms, particularly when considering new treatment strategies. This report highlights the latest research efforts, as well as the possible pitfalls, in cardiac disease translational research and discusses future questions and considerations needed to advance the development of new heart failure therapies. In particular, we discuss cardiac remodeling and the translation of animal work to humans and how advancements in our understanding of these concepts relative to disease are central to new discoveries that can improve cardiovascular health.

Keywords: Heart failure; angiotensin-converting enzyme; clinical trials.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: MSK is a co-inventor of patented intellectual property concerning the use of RSK3 inhibitors for the treatment of heart failure, by which he and the University of Miami may gain royalties from future commercialization. He is the manager of Anchored RSK3 Inhibitors, LLC (Miami Beach, FL, USA) and is on the board of directors of Cardiac RSK3 Inhibitors, LLC (Miami Beach, FL, USA), companies interested in developing RSK3-targeted therapies and in which he holds equity. CAE declares that he has no competing interests.

No competing interests were disclosed.

References

    1. Mozaffarian D, Benjamin EJ, Go AS, et al. : Heart disease and stroke statistics--2015 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2015;131(4):e29–322. 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000152 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Heidenreich PA, Albert NM, Allen LA, et al. : Forecasting the impact of heart failure in the United States: a policy statement from the American Heart Association. Circ Heart Fail. 2013;6(3):606–19. 10.1161/HHF.0b013e318291329a - DOI - PMC - PubMed

    2. F1000 Recommendation

    1. Yancy CW, Jessup M, Bozkurt B, et al. : 2013 ACCF/AHA guideline for the management of heart failure: executive summary: a report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on practice guidelines. Circulation. 2013;128(16):1810–52. 10.1161/CIR.0b013e31829e8807 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Xie M, Burchfield JS, Hill JA: Pathological ventricular remodeling: therapies: part 2 of 2. Circulation. 2013;128(9):1021–30. 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.001879 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Komajda M, Tavazzi L, Francq BG, et al. : Efficacy and safety of ivabradine in patients with chronic systolic heart failure and diabetes: an analysis from the SHIFT trial. Eur J Heart Fail. 2015;17(12):1294–301. 10.1002/ejhf.347 - DOI - PubMed

    2. F1000 Recommendation