Chemical messengers in heart failure and hypertrophy

Phosphodiesterase-2 and spatial control of cAMP signals in the heart

Cardiac hypertrophy is when cells in the heart grow too large and cannot pull together efficiently to produce the heartbeat; this can lead to heart failure. One important change that can happen during heart failure is disruption to a process called calcium signalling. Calcium is released from stores in response to chemical signals and allows each heart cell to contract in a timely way, forming a regular heartbeat. A key molecule that regulates calcium levels in the heart is called cAMP. Professor Manuela Zaccolo and her team have been researching cAMP at the University of Glasgow and are now relocating to the University of Oxford. There they will further improve our understanding of the role of cAMP disruption in heart failure, and cardiac hypertrophy in particular. This grant will allow scientific collaboration at our BHF Centre of Research Excellence at the University of Oxford. Some of this award will train a young scientist in a complex imaging technique called Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) microscopy, which enables researchers to follow the location of chemical messengers within heart cells in an accurate way. Professor Zaccolo will link up with a team at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands to learn advanced sample preparation, use of software and data analysis. Other funding for this multi-stranded programme includes new equipment costs to improve key experimental techniques. The end result of improving our knowledge about the role of cAMP could be new treatments for patients with cardiac hypertrophy or heart failure.