Clarification of the role of regulatory mechanism of mitochondria DNA in heart and the application to treatment of heart failure

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26461129
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cardiovascular medicine
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Hikoso Shungo 大阪大学, 医学系研究科, 寄附講座准教授 (30423164)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: DNase II

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated the role of DNase II, which is a responsible molecule for degradation of mitochondrial DNA, in the pathogenesis of heart failure. As for the regulatory mechanism of DNase activity, we identified that the activity is regulated via post-translational mechanism, and now we are investigating the detail. As for the therapeutic implication of DNase II for heart failure, we created cardiac-specific DNase II transgenic mice, and evaluated the phenotype. In addition, we evaluated the role of DNase II in human heart failure pathophysiology using human cardiac tissue sample of heart failure patients, and found that the expression of DNase II in failing heart is decreased compared with non-failing heart. We also found that DNA is deposited in cardiomyocytes in patients with heart failure.

Free Research Field

循環器内科学