Chipping Away at Heart Failure

Studies in the field of microarray technology have exploded onto the scene to delve into the unknown underlying mechanisms and pathways in molecular disease. Diseases of the cardio-vascular system, particularly those with unexplained molecular etiologies, such as heart failure, have more recently been investigated using array technology. Our laboratory has sought to examine gene expression profiles of human heart failure using a 10,000+ element cardio-vascular-based complementary DNA microarray constructed in-house, termed the “CardioChip.” Our studies have identified panels of genes, such as those encoding sarcomeric and cytoskeletal proteins, stress proteins, and Ca²⁺ regulators, that are differentially expressed in disease conditions as compared with samples from nonfailing hearts. Microarrays are effective tools for examining molecular portraits of the cardiovascular disease condition.