Summary
Cardiovascular disease poses a major health care burden in the Western world. Following
myocardial injuries, ventricular remodelling and dysfunction ensue, which can eventually
culminate in heart failure. An important event in left ventricular (LV) remodelling
is alteration of the extracellular matrix (ECM) integrity, the structural network
that interconnects the myocardial components. The critical role of ECM remodelling
in cardiac dilation and heart failure was recognized more than a decade ago, and the
molecular factors responsible for this process are now being explored. Abnormal ECM
turnover is primarily brought about by an imbalance in the activity of matrix metalloproteinases
(MMPs) that degrade ECM components, and their endogenous inhibitors, tissue inhibitors
of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). Here we provide an overview of composition of the cardiac
ECM, and alterations in ECM regulatory proteins, MMPs and TIMPs, in human heart disease.
We also discuss the role of TIMPs, MMPs, and a disintegrin and metalloproteinase (ADAMs)
enzymes in cardiac development and function as learned through genetically altered
mouse models.
Keywords
Extracellular matrix - metalloproteinases - tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases
- heart disease - genetic mouse models