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Cardiac fibrosis

An epigenetic switch in macrophages promotes fibrosis in the failing heart

Nature Cardiovascular Research volume 3, pages 254–255 (2024)Cite this article

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Older men with loss of the Y chromosome are more susceptible to heart failure but the responsible genes have not been identified. A study now shows that loss of a single Y chromosome gene in bone marrow cells induces heart failure by switching cardiac macrophages from an inflammatory to a fibrogenic pattern of gene activity.

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Fig. 1: Mice with gene trap knockout of the Y chromosome gene Uty show increased heart failure.
Fig. 2: Analysis of multiomics data suggests that macrophages have increased fibrogenic responses related to increased activity of TGFβ-related, and other pathways.

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Acknowledgements

A.R.T. was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants HL155431, HL170157 and HL107653.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Molecular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Alan R. Tall

  2. Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Trevor P. Fidler

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  1. Alan R. Tall
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  2. Trevor P. Fidler
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Correspondence to Alan R. Tall.

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Tall, A.R., Fidler, T.P. An epigenetic switch in macrophages promotes fibrosis in the failing heart. Nat Cardiovasc Res 3, 254–255 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-024-00439-7

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