Regulation of cardiac form and function: small RNAs and large hearts

Heart failure, and the cardiac hypertrophy with which it is often associated, is putting an increasing burden on our healthcare system, and its prevalence is rising. Unfortunately the only available treatments are mainly targeting the symptoms, not the underlying cause of disease. Investigation of the molecular mechanisms that induce hypertrophy might provide new therapeutic targets or markers for the early diagnosis of the disease, thereby improving treatment.
The studies described in this thesis aim to identify novel regulators of the hypertrophic response of the heart. We took a dual approach: on the one hand we performed a large scale in vitro siRNA screen to identify novel regulators of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. On the other hand we studied the in vivo role of miRNA-30c, a miRNA that has been linked to the development of cardiac fibrosis and heart failure.