Unveiling the role of the immune system in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Defining the role of the immune response in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, is a heart muscle disease that can run in families. It can lead to shortness of breath, chest pain, palpitations, and light headedness and increases the risk of both young and older people dying suddenly. Over the last 20 years, scientists including BHF Professor Watkins and his team have identified some of the faulty genes that can cause this condition. As a result of these breakthroughs, potential treatments to prevent the condition developing are being investigated. Unfortunately it is unlikely that these potential treatments will help patients who already have the disease. Professor Watkins and his team want to understand how the abnormal heart muscle cells affect the other surrounding cells and result in inflammation and scarring. They have evidence that immune cells have complex influences on other cell types in the heart and that they can contribute to the damage that occurs in HCM. But it is also known that immune cells are also important in limiting or repairing damage to the heart muscle through other mechanisms. The team will study inflammation in HCM to identify which elements of the immune system are responsible for these changes. This research has the potential to reveal clues about the immune system’s role in HCM, including how scarring occurs. This understanding could reveal new ways to treat this condition and help people who already have HCM-associated changes in their heart muscle.