Health sciences articles within Nature Reviews Cardiology

Featured

  • Review Article |

    Physiological responses to stress are thought to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease via haemodynamic, vascular and immune perturbations. In this Review, Vaccarino and Bremner focus on issues with the measurement of psychological stress and the underlying pathobiology connecting stress to the risk of cardiovascular disease.

    • Viola Vaccarino
    •  & J. Douglas Bremner
  • Research Highlight |

    Treatment for periodontal disease might reduce the recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients undergoing ablation, suggesting that periodontitis is a modifiable risk factor for AF.

    • Gregory B. Lim
  • Review Article |

    In this Review, the authors discuss the receptors, ligands and interactors that regulate immune cell recruitment in atherosclerosis, describe mechanisms that promote the resolution of inflammation in atherosclerotic lesions, and highlight potential strategies to target these pathways for the treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

    • Yvonne Döring
    • , Emiel P. C. van der Vorst
    •  & Christian Weber
  • Research Highlight |

    Data from the DanGer Shock trial demonstrate that implantation of a microaxial flow pump in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction complicated by cardiogenic shock increases the survival rate compared with standard care alone.

    • Jennifer Harman
  • Comment |

    The under-representation of women in cardiovascular clinical trials persists across participant, clinician and research roles. This gap perpetuates health inequity and hampers the generation, translation and implementation of optimal evidence-based care. Urgent action is needed to address barriers, promote diversity, and ensure inclusive trial design and health-care delivery and dissemination, for more equitable cardiovascular health.

    • Julie Sanders
    • , Tim Clayton
    •  & Rochelle Wynne
  • Research Highlight |

    A new study identifies a group of gut bacteria that can metabolize cholesterol and are associated with lower plasma cholesterol levels.

    • Irene Fernández-Ruiz
  • Review Article |

    Patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) have an increased risk of cancer, and patients with cancer have an increased risk of CVD. In this Review, the authors discuss the shared modifiable risk factors and the shared pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the bidirectional relationship between these two prevalent diseases.

    • Nicholas S. Wilcox
    • , Uri Amit
    •  & Bonnie Ky
  • Review Article |

    In this Review, Kemper and colleagues discuss the canonical and non-canonical roles of the complement system in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and discuss potential new therapeutic strategies targeting the complement system for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

    • Pasquale Maffia
    • , Claudio Mauro
    •  & Claudia Kemper
  • Review Article |

    In this Review, van Leent and colleagues provide an overview of current PET imaging approaches for assessment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, as well as of whole-body PET applications; discuss the link between imaging readouts and atherosclerotic plaque pathology; and highlight promising developments in PET systems and radiotracer synthesis.

    • Alexander Maier
    • , Abraham J. P. Teunissen
    •  & Mandy M. T. van Leent
  • Obituary |

    Gilard and Wijns reflect on the life of Alain Cribier, who revolutionized the management of patients with valvular disease.

    • Martine Gilard
    •  & William Wijns
  • Clinical Outlook |

    In ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, the role of interventional modification of thrombi in the coronary arteries before stenting is controversial. However, innovations in stroke intervention have sparked renewed interest in thrombus modification approaches. We discuss current and emerging techniques to extract or disperse thrombi, aiming to reduce downstream embolization, microvascular obstruction and myocardial injury.

    • Jason L. Walsh
    • , Rafail A. Kotronias
    •  & Giovanni Luigi De Maria
  • Review Article |

    In this Review, the authors address considerations for enteral antithrombotic therapy in patients with cardiovascular disease and gastrointestinal comorbidities, who often have an increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. Approaches include tailoring of antithrombotic regimens and gastrointestinal-protection strategies.

    • Azita H. Talasaz
    • , Parham Sadeghipour
    •  & Behnood Bikdeli
  • Research Highlight |

    In patients with carotid artery disease, the presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in the carotid plaque is associated with an increased risk of death or major cardiovascular events compared with patients in whom microplastics and nanoplastics were not detected.

    • Karina Huynh
  • Review Article |

    Non-coding RNAs are implicated in the pathophysiology of ischaemic heart disease and heart failure. In this Review, Caporali and colleagues examine the biology of these molecules and discuss the potential of non-coding RNAs for translation to the clinic as biomarkers and therapeutics in adverse cardiac remodelling leading to ischaemic heart failure.

    • Andrea Caporali
    • , Maryam Anwar
    •  & Costanza Emanueli
  • Tools of the Trade |

    In this Tools of the Trade article, Charrière describes the FluoStep FRET-based biosensor used for high-resolution imaging of cAMP nanodomains that are involved in intracellular signalling in cardiomyocytes.

    • Camille Charrière
  • Comment |

    Novel cardiovascular therapeutics have the potential to improve health outcomes, but financial toxicity from high out-of-pocket costs can limit the reach of these medications and worsen existing health disparities. Understanding the phenomenon of financial toxicity in treating cardiovascular disease is crucial to achieving health equity.

    • Alexander H. Gunn
    •  & Akshay Pendyal
  • Journal Club |

    Shoaran and Maffia recount how our understanding of the role of inflammation in atherosclerosis has evolved and highlight the study by Göran Hansson and colleagues that provided the first hint of the involvement of the adaptive immune response in atherosclerosis.

    • Mohsen Shoaran
    •  & Pasquale Maffia
  • Review Article |

    In this Review, Lam and colleagues evaluate the current literature on sex-related differences in treatment responses in patients with heart failure and highlight potential approaches for tailored therapies and the need for sex-specific evaluation of treatment efficacy and safety in future research.

    • Janice Y. Chyou
    • , Hailun Qin
    •  & Carolyn S. P. Lam
  • Journal Club |

    Rebecca Gilchrist discusses the study that demonstrated the long-term modulation of ventricular repolarization by the sequence of electrical activation in the human heart and established the concept of cardiac memory.

    • Rebecca J. Gilchrist
  • Clinical Outlook |

    Atrial fibrillation is the most common sustained arrhythmia and imposes a substantial burden on patients and health-care providers. Clinical evidence suggests that antiarrhythmic therapy to restore and maintain sinus rhythm (rhythm control) can reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with new-onset atrial fibrillation. As a result, a paradigm shift towards rhythm control over rate control therapy is emerging, increasing the clinical need for effective and safe antiarrhythmic drugs.

    • Felix Wiedmann
    •  & Constanze Schmidt
  • Research Highlight |

    Using a porcine model of cardiogenic shock, Lamberti and colleagues develop a clinically accessible, patient-validated metric to assess pulmonary vascular compliance that can predict tolerance to left-sided ventricular assist device support.

    • Karina Huynh
  • Research Highlight |

    A study shows that congenital heart defects in Down syndrome are in part caused by increased dosage of the DYRK1A gene, which lies on chromosome 21, leading to reduced proliferation and mitochondrial dysfunction in cardiomyocytes.

    • Irene Fernández-Ruiz
  • Review Article |

    In this Review, Lakhal-Littleton and Cleland use the latest understanding of iron homeostasis to evaluate existing and emerging markers of iron status, describe the reciprocal relationship between iron status and heart failure, and mechanistically examine the benefits of oral and intravenous iron replacement therapies.

    • Samira Lakhal-Littleton
    •  & John G. F. Cleland
  • Comment |

    In this Comment, we critically examine the association between the increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods and their negative effect on cardiovascular health. We explore the historical evolution of food processing, the Nova food classification and the epidemiological evidence, and highlight the need for urgent public health interventions.

    • Fernanda Rauber
    •  & Renata Bertazzi Levy
  • Review Article |

    In this Review, Varga and colleagues provide an overview of the evidence on immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced heart failure and cardiac dysfunction that is unrelated to myocarditis, and discuss how pharmacological targeting of immune checkpoints might be a potential strategy to treat heart failure.

    • Tamás G. Gergely
    • , Zsófia D. Drobni
    •  & Zoltán V. Varga
  • Clinical Outlook |

    A molecular autopsy is undertaken in cases of sudden cardiac death with no definitive cause found after conventional autopsy, with the aim of identifying a pathological genetic variant that could account for the death. Greater awareness of malignant arrhythmias in the absence of structural changes in inherited cardiomyopathies has increased the applicability of molecular autopsies, and resulted in improved care of families but new challenges for clinicians.

    • Julia C. Isbister
    •  & Christopher Semsarian
  • Clinical Outlook |

    Heart valve replacement in newborn babies remains an unsolved problem because currently used heart valve implants do not grow. This lack of implant growth mandates serial re-operations until adult-size valve implants can be fitted. Partial heart transplantation is a new approach to solve this problem by transplanting only the part of the heart that contains the necessary valve.

    • Taufiek K. Rajab
    • , Andrew D. Vogel
    •  & Joseph W. Turek
  • Research Highlight |

    Anti-inflammatory therapy involving IL-1β inhibition might reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in individuals with clonal haematopoiesis by increasing the number of fibroblast-like cells in the fibrous cap region of atherosclerotic plaques, thereby stabilizing the plaque and reducing the likelihood of rupture.

    • Gregory B. Lim
  • Review Article |

    In this Review, Fredman and Serhan discuss the role of specialized pro-resolving mediators, a superfamily of endogenous signalling lipids that mediate resolution of inflammation processes in atherosclerosis, and appraise the therapeutic potential of specialized pro-resolving mediators for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis, and the resolution of uncontrolled vascular inflammation.

    • Gabrielle Fredman
    •  & Charles N. Serhan
  • Review Article |

    In this Review, Sarraju and Nissen summarize the clinical trial evidence for coronary atherosclerotic plaque stabilization and regression with plasma LDL-cholesterol-lowering therapy and other treatments. Invasive and non-invasive imaging modalities used to assess plaque burden and composition are discussed.

    • Ashish Sarraju
    •  & Steven E. Nissen
  • Review Article |

    In this Review, Bosworth and colleagues describe the causes of medication non-adherence, discuss interventions that have been clinically shown to improve adherence and identify areas for future research.

    • Adam J. Nelson
    • , Neha J. Pagidipati
    •  & Hayden B. Bosworth
  • Review Article |

    In this Review, Guzik and colleagues discuss immune and inflammatory mechanisms of hypertension, including upstream regulators and downstream effectors as well as the complex interplay between the immune system, blood pressure regulation and end-organ damage, which can help to identify new targets for therapeutic interventions.

    • Tomasz J. Guzik
    • , Ryszard Nosalski
    •  & Grant R. Drummond