Heart Failure: From Molecular Insights to Future Treatments
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 2378
Special Issue Editor
Interests: chronic heart failure; acute heart failure; clinical cardiology cardiology; heart failure; cardiomyopathies; cardiovascular medicine; cardiovascular pharmacology; pulmonary hypertension; hemoglobinopathies
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Heart failure is a severe clinical syndrome, and despite the important therapeutic advances of the past few years, it is still characterized by high mortality and morbidity rates. Targeting this residual mortality and morbidity thus remains a key unmet need, and besides promoting the implementation of existing guideline-directed therapies, the evaluation of potential new therapeutic targets is essential. In this context, this Special Issue explores three relevant topics:
- The interplay between oral cardioactive medications and gut microbiota;
- The role of inflammation as a therapeutic target in heart failure;
- Novel therapeutic strategies beyond the currently established ones.
The accumulated scientific work suggests a relationship between cardiovascular drugs and the intestinal environment, mostly the gut microbiota. It seems that not only antibiotics, but also more than one-fourth of non-antibiotic drugs affect the gut microbiota and its metabolic products. In addition, this may not be a one-way relationship, as the gut microbiota may modify the response to oral medications. Although there are several published scientific reports related to the interaction between orally administered drugs and the gut microbiota, little is known about the effects of drug delivery on the intestinal environment in patients with cardiovascular diseases and the possible consequences that these effects may have on the response to drug therapy.
Inflammation in heart failure is a key and complex process including many factors and pathways that are not yet fully elucidated. There is a strong association between measures of inflammation and heart failure severity and prognosis. Still, although several therapeutic strategies targeting inflammation have been tested in these patients, the results remain inconclusive. Immunomodulation therapy may provide a beneficial immune response to decrease pro-inflammatory pathways and increase anti-inflammatory pathways. Systemic anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory therapies including methotrexate, colchicine and statins, as well as new therapies targeting specific inflammatory factors such as TNF alpha, interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6, galectin-3 and myeloperoxidase appear as promising treatment options. Current and future studies are expected to provide more solid evidence on this topic.
Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Farmakis
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- cardiology
- cardiovascular disease
- cardioactive medications
- gut microbiota
- inflammation
- heart failure
