How do heart cells sense damage and influence repair?

Investigating the importance of interleukin-1α and its receptor on cardiac fibroblasts in post-MI myocardial remodelling

Dr Neil Turner and colleagues from the University of Leeds are working out if special heart cells called cardiac fibroblasts can sense cell damage in the heart, and if we can alter how they respond to improve heart repair after injury. A heart attack happens when the blood supply to the heart muscle is restricted or blocked. Without a blood supply heart cells die quickly, leading to an inflammatory response, which is important for healing and repair. Cardiac fibroblasts are important cells in the heart that help to repair damaged heart tissue. Dr Turner and colleagues have shown that cardiac fibroblasts respond to factors released by the inflammatory response, caused by damage to the heart and help trigger healing response. In this study, he will investigate how fibroblasts detect and respond to heart cell damage in mice. He will also work out whether we can alter how cardiac fibroblasts work to improve healing after a heart attack. This research may reveal how cardiac fibroblasts sense damage caused by a heart attack and contribute to repair processes. This information could be harnessed to design new drugs to improve repair after a heart attack.