Investigation of Novel Biomarkers and Treatment Targets for Pediatric Heart Failure
Abstract
Human hearts are unable to self-repair due to their very limited endogenous regenerative capacity. Thus, mortality rates of heart failure are extremely high. Pediatric heart failure (PHF) is the leading non-trauma-related cause of death for an infant, child, or adolescent in the United States. Many children with PHF are treated by inserting a pump known as a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) into the heart to assist blood circulation. However, most patients dont respond to LVAD treatment and require heart transplantation. Unfortunately, transplantation is severely limited by the scarcity of donor hearts. Hence, an unmet clinical need is to accurately predict whether PHF patients respond to LVAD treatment. This would ease the decision of physicians on whether heart transplantation is needed. Accordingly, identification of biomarkers in PHF patient blood samples would provide a novel non-invasive method to determine whether heart function improves upon LVAD treatment. Hence, our study is aimed at developing gene expression signature-based methods that predict whether PHF patients respond favorably to LVAD treatment. Our studies are also aimed at stimulating endogenous cardiac regeneration with the goal of significantly improving PHF survival rates. As such, we will employ cutting-edge techniques to determine the molecular mechanisms that govern cardiac regeneration in order to develop novel PHF therapy approaches.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1158146
Entities
People
- James F. Martin
Organizations
- Baylor College of Medicine