Submission Tilte
Inflammation, Immunity, and Cardiac Injury
Submission Abstract:
The body responds to various cardiac injuries via complex acute and chronic adaptive processes to maintain pump function. Central to this process is inflammation and immune response. Short-lived inflammation promotes cardiac repair and remodeling post-injury. However, exaggerated inflammation may lead to adverse remodeling following an injury. Therefore, a balance in the degree of inflammation is a vital determinant in promoting endogenous repair. The potent sterile inflammation of the injured heart depends on a multitude of signals. Damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) released by dying cells, the cytosolic DNA sensing pathway, and cardiomyocyte NLRP3 inflammasome are each responsible for initiating the pro-inflammatory signaling during myocardial injury. Furthermore, the many different cell types (including neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, eosinophils, mast cells, natural killer cells, and T and B cells) that make up the immune system interact with one another and with resident cardiac fibroblasts, endothelial, and myocardial cells. Thus, important contributions of Inflammation and Immunity to cardiac function and the response to injury have recently emerged as exciting areas of investigation