Investigating the Role of TGF-ß Signaling in the Failing Diabetic Heart
Heart failure constitutes a significant health care burden. In Canada, over 500,000 individuals are reported to experience heart failure. Of these individuals, roughly 50% experience a specific type of heart failure called heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, a condition characterized at the cellular level by cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and fibrosis. Strikingly, individuals with diabetes are particularly prone to developing heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. However, with considerable debate surrounding the exact nature/cause of cardiac dysfunction attributable to diabetes, very little advancement has been made with respect to the development of effective therapies. In fact, a major challenge to the development of effective therapies is the identification of modifiable pathways responsible for the hypertrophic growth of cardiomyocytes – a key pathological feature of the failing diabetic heart. Of the reported pathways, the transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-ß1) signaling pathway emerges as an attractive therapeutic target as it is consistently implicated in organ hypertrophy and fibrosis. With a large proportion of diabetic women at an increased risk of developing cardiovascular complications, the air of my research is to better understand the role/contributions of TGF-ß1 in diabetes-induced cardiac dysfunction – an aim that closely aligns with the spirit of the Lorne Phenix Graduate Award.