Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0018801 (heart failure)
 72,216 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Coupling of ATP-generating with ATP-consuming processes is an essential component in the cardiac bioenergetics responsible for optimal myocardial function. Although a number of enzymatic systems have been implicated in securing proper intracellular energy communication, their integrative response in a failing myocardium has not been determined so far. Therefore, we measured catalytic activities of enzymes responsible for the communication between ATP-generating and ATP-consuming processes in ventricular samples obtained from normal dogs and dogs with tachycardia-induced heart failure. In the failing myocardium, phosphotransfer activities of creatine kinase, adenylate kinase, 3-phosphoglycerate kinase and pyruvate kinase, which collectively deliver ATP and remove ADP from myofibrillar ATPases, were depressed by 30, 21, 44 and 20%, respectively, when compared to normal controls. The activity of hexokinase, an enzyme which directs phosphoryls into the glycolytic phosphotransfer pathway, was unchanged. Also, the activity of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, which may shuttle inorganic phosphate between ATPases and ATP-synthases, was not affected by heart failure. However, the CO2-hydration activity of carbonic anhydrase, which together with creatine kinase, is presumed responsible for removal of protons from ATPases, was diminished by 21%. As these enzymatic systems are collectively required for adequate delivery of high-energy phosphoryl to, and removal of end-products from, cellular ATPases, the cumulative deficit in their flux capacities may provide a bioenergetic basis for impaired contraction-relaxation in the failing heart.
 ...
PMID:Reduced activity of enzymes coupling ATP-generating with ATP-consuming processes in the failing myocardium. 1063 Jun 20

Cardiovascular diseases are associated with multiple changes in gene expression. In general, cardiac tissue is not accessible to expression analysis. This study was designed to investigate expression of cardiac significant genes in white blood cells of heart failure patients and to identify differentially expressed genes. The quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method was used for quantification of messenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts in blood samples of 20 patients (NYHA III-IV) with severe heart failure and of 20 healthy controls (NYHA I). Total RNA was extracted from leukocytes, reverse transcribed into cDNA, amplified and quantitated by SYBR Green detection. Relative mRNA expression was calculated using phosphoglycerate kinase-1 ( PGK-1) gene expression as an endogenous reference. Identified were 14 genes relevant to cardiomyocyte excitability or contractility. Most of them had not been previously reported to be expressed in blood cells. Data was based on 0.5 micro g total RNA applied to RT-PCR and on leukocyte number. In both, an increased transcription level of the Na/Ca exchanger ( NCX) was found in blood of heart failure patients as compared to controls (p < 0.02), in line with an upregulated NCX expression known from myocardial tissue of heart failure patients. This pilot study demonstrates that NCX transcription increased in potential relation to heart failure disease.
 ...
PMID:Real-time RT-PCR for gene expression profiling in blood of heart failure patients-a pilot study: gene expression in blood of heart failure patients. 1508 8

1. Mechanical stretch leads to cardiac hypertrophy and may ultimately cause heart failure. However, the effect of mechanical stretch on gene induction in cardiomyocytes remains to be determined. 2. In the present study, we compared transcript profiles of mechanically stretched neonatal rat cardiomyocytes with those of unstretched cells using cDNA microarrays. The microarrays contained probes for 480 known genes, including those involved in signal transduction, cell cycle regulation, the cytoskeleton and cell motility. Eighteen genes, including the eNOS gene, were identified as having significantly differential expression in response to mechanical stretch in cardiomyocytes. 3. Northern and western blot analysis further quantified the expression of the eNOS gene. Mechanical stretch increased constitutive NOS activity and nitric oxide (NO) production. The NO donor s-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) inhibited mechanical stretch-stimulated protein synthesis, as measured by [3H]-leucine uptake. In addition, cardiomyocytes were infected with adenoviral vectors encoding cDNA for eNOS (Ad-eNOS) and a phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) empty vector (Ad-PGK). In contrast with Ad-PGK-infected cells, in cardiomyocytes infected with Ad-eNOS, there was increased calcium-dependent NOS activity and nitrite production. Cardiomyocytes infected with Ad-eNOS exhibited diminished mechanical stretch-stimulated protein synthesis. In contrast, in eNOS-knockdown cells, the increased eNOS protein levels and NOS activity induced by mechanical stretch were abolished, but protein synthesis was enhanced. 4. The results of the present study indicate that eNOS gene expression is induced by mechanical stretch, leading to increased constitutive NOS activity and NO production, which may be a negative regulator in cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.
 ...
PMID:Mechanical stretch induces endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene expression in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes. 1967 40