Role of cardiac macrophages in regulating the homeostasis and cardiac function

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K08073
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 53020:Cardiology-related
• Research Institution: Chiba University
• Principal Investigator: Kudo Fujimi 千葉大学, 大学院医学研究院, 特任助教 (30726419)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: マクロファージ / 心不全 / 老化 / リモデリング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The prevalence of heart failure is increasing in the aging society. We previously demonstrated that cardiac macrophages play key roles in the maintenance of homeostasis and stress response in the heart. However, the mechanisms by which cardiac macrophages give rise to diverse functions are not well understood. Cardiac macrophages are crucial for cardiac homeostasis. Therefore, we hypothesized that age-associated changes in cardiac macrophages might impair cardiac homeostasis in the elderly. Our single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data demonstrated that cardiac macrophages consisted of multiple subsets. We found that the several tissue-resident macrophage subsets that appear to contribute to homeostasis were replaced with aged mice-specific subsets. Our data suggest that the changes in macrophage subpopulations contribute to the age-associated cardiac dysfunction.

Free Research Field

循環器内科学、免疫学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

心不全は予後不良の疾患で、その患者数は超高齢社会を背景に増加の一途を辿っている。このことからも新たなメカニズムに基づく心不全の新規治療法開発は喫緊の課題である。本研究は、マクロファージサブセットを介した恒常性維持機構や心不全、リモデリングにおける機能を明らかにすることで、新規マクロファージサブセットを標的とした新たな心不全の予防・治療法の基盤確立に繋がると考える。