Angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibition compared with enalapril on the risk of clinical progression in surviving patients with heart failure.

in Circulation (2015), 131(1), 54-61

BACKGROUND: Clinical trials in heart failure have focused on the improvement in symptoms or decreases in the risk of death and other cardiovascular events. Little is known about the effect of drugs on the ... [more ▼]

BACKGROUND: Clinical trials in heart failure have focused on the improvement in symptoms or decreases in the risk of death and other cardiovascular events. Little is known about the effect of drugs on the risk of clinical deterioration in surviving patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: We compared the angiotensin-neprilysin inhibitor LCZ696 (400 mg daily) with the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor enalapril (20 mg daily) in 8399 patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction in a double-blind trial. The analyses focused on prespecified measures of nonfatal clinical deterioration. In comparison with the enalapril group, fewer LCZ696-treated patients required intensification of medical treatment for heart failure (520 versus 604; hazard ratio, 0.84; 95% confidence interval, 0.74-0.94; P=0.003) or an emergency department visit for worsening heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% confidence interval, 0.52-0.85; P=0.001). The patients in the LCZ696 group had 23% fewer hospitalizations for worsening heart failure (851 versus 1079; P<0.001) and were less likely to require intensive care (768 versus 879; 18% rate reduction, P=0.005), to receive intravenous positive inotropic agents (31% risk reduction, P<0.001), and to have implantation of a heart failure device or cardiac transplantation (22% risk reduction, P=0.07). The reduction in heart failure hospitalization with LCZ696 was evident within the first 30 days after randomization. Worsening of symptom scores in surviving patients was consistently more common in the enalapril group. LCZ696 led to an early and sustained reduction in biomarkers of myocardial wall stress and injury (N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide and troponin) versus enalapril. CONCLUSIONS: Angiotensin-neprilysin inhibition prevents the clinical progression of surviving patients with heart failure more effectively than angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01035255. [less ▲]

Pak1 as a novel therapeutic target for antihypertrophic treatment in the heart.

in Circulation (2011), 124(24), 2702-15

BACKGROUND: Stress-induced hypertrophic remodeling is a critical pathogenetic process leading to heart failure. Although many signal transduction cascades are demonstrated as important regulators to ... [more ▼]

BACKGROUND: Stress-induced hypertrophic remodeling is a critical pathogenetic process leading to heart failure. Although many signal transduction cascades are demonstrated as important regulators to facilitate the induction of cardiac hypertrophy, the signaling pathways for suppressing hypertrophic remodeling remain largely unexplored. In this study, we identified p21-activated kinase 1 (Pak1) as a novel signaling regulator that antagonizes cardiac hypertrophy. METHODS AND RESULTS: Hypertrophic stress applied to primary neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCMs) or murine hearts caused the activation of Pak1. Analysis of NRCMs expressing constitutively active Pak1 or in which Pak1 was silenced disclosed that Pak1 played an antihypertrophic role. To investigate the in vivo role of Pak1 in the heart, we generated mice with a cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Pak1 (Pak1(cko)). When subjected to 2 weeks of pressure overload, Pak1(cko) mice developed greater cardiac hypertrophy with attendant blunting of JNK activation compared with controls, and these knockout mice underwent the transition into heart failure when prolonged stress was applied. Chronic angiotensin II infusion also caused increased cardiac hypertrophy in Pak1(cko) mice. Moreover, we discovered that the Pak1 activator FTY720, a sphingosine-like analog, was able to prevent pressure overload-induced hypertrophy in wild-type mice without compromising their cardiac functions. Meanwhile, FTY720 failed to exert such an effect on Pak1(cko) mice, suggesting that the antihypertrophic effect of FTY720 likely acts through Pak1 activation. CONCLUSIONS: These results, for the first time, establish Pak1 as a novel antihypertrophic regulator and suggest that it may be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. [less ▲]

A change of scene: Ludwig Neyses, MD. Interview by Mark Nicholls.

in Circulation (2007), 116(3), 13-5

Increased mortality and aggravation of heart failure in estrogen receptor-beta knockout mice after myocardial infarction.

in Circulation (2005), 111(12), 1492-8

BACKGROUND: Lower mortality rates among women with chronic heart failure than among men may depend in part on the action of female sex hormones, especially estrogens. The biological effects of estrogens ... [more ▼]

BACKGROUND: Lower mortality rates among women with chronic heart failure than among men may depend in part on the action of female sex hormones, especially estrogens. The biological effects of estrogens are mediated by 2 distinct estrogen receptor (ER) subtypes (ERalpha and ERbeta). The present study was undertaken to determine the role of ERbeta in the development of chronic heart failure after experimental myocardial infarction (MI). METHODS AND RESULTS: Female ERbeta null mice (BERKO(Chapel Hill)) and wild-type littermates (WT) were ovariectomized, given 17beta-estradiol, and subjected to chronic anterior MI (MI; BERKO n=31, WT n=30) or sham operation (sham; BERKO n=14, WT n=14). At 8 weeks after MI, both genotypes revealed left ventricular remodeling and impaired contractile function at similar average infarct size (BERKO-MI 32.9+/-5% versus WT-MI 33.0+/-4%); however, BERKO mice showed increased mortality (BERKO-MI 42% versus WT-MI 23%), increased body weight and fluid retention (P<0.01), higher ventricular pro-ANP expression (BERKO-MI 27.9-fold versus sham, WT-MI 5.2-fold versus sham; BERKO-MI versus WT-MI P<0.001), higher atrial natriuretic peptide serum levels, and increased phospholamban expression (P<0.05) compared with WT mice. CONCLUSIONS: Systemic deletion of ERbeta in female mice increases mortality, aggravates clinical and biochemical markers of heart failure, and contributes to impaired expression of Ca(2+)-handling proteins in chronic heart failure after MI. Further studies are required to delineate the relative importance of cardiac and vascular effects of ERbeta and the role of ERalpha in the development of heart failure. [less ▲]

Calcineurin in human heart hypertrophy.

in Circulation (2002), 105(19), 2265-9

BACKGROUND: In animal models, increased signaling through the calcineurin pathway has been shown to be sufficient for the development of cardiac hypertrophy. Calcineurin activity has been reported to be ... [more ▼]

BACKGROUND: In animal models, increased signaling through the calcineurin pathway has been shown to be sufficient for the development of cardiac hypertrophy. Calcineurin activity has been reported to be elevated in the myocardium of patients with congestive heart failure. In contrast, few data are available about calcineurin activity in patients with pressure overload or cardiomyopathic hypertrophy who are not in cardiac failure. METHODS AND RESULTS: We investigated calcineurin activity and protein expression in 2 different forms of cardiac hypertrophy: hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) and aortic stenosis (AS). We found that the C-terminus of calcineurin A protein containing the autoinhibitory domain was less abundant in myocardial hypertrophy than in normal heart, which suggests the possibility of proteolysis. No new splice variants could be detected by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. This resulted in a significant elevation of calcineurin enzymatic activity in HOCM and AS compared with 6 normal hearts. Increased calcineurin phosphatase activity caused increased migration of NF-AT2 (nuclear factor of activated T cells 2) in SDS-PAGE compatible with pronounced NF-AT dephosphorylation in hypertrophied myocardial tissue. CONCLUSIONS: Hypertrophy in HOCM and AS without heart failure is characterized by a significant increase in calcineurin activity. This might occur by (partial) proteolysis of the calcineurin A C-terminus containing the autoinhibitory domain. Increased calcineurin activity has functional relevance, as shown by altered NF-AT phosphorylation state. Although hypertrophy in AS and HOCM may be initiated by different upstream triggers (internal versus external fiber overload), in both cases, there is activation of calcineurin, which suggests an involvement of this pathway in the pathogenesis of human cardiac hypertrophy. [less ▲]

The methodology of mental stress testing in cardiovascular research.

in Circulation (1991), 83(Suppl II), 14-24

Many issues related to the selection, reliability, and validity of mental stress testing in cardiovascular research are discussed. Five categories of mental stress testing are distinguished: problem ... [more ▼]

Many issues related to the selection, reliability, and validity of mental stress testing in cardiovascular research are discussed. Five categories of mental stress testing are distinguished: problem-solving tasks, information-processing tasks, psychomotor tasks, affective conditions, and aversive or painful conditions. A series of practical and theoretical criteria are outlined for the selection of appropriate tests, and the measurement of a range of dependent variables is emphasized. The temporal stability of cardiovascular responses to mental stress tests is examined through an analysis of test-retest correlations (weighted for sample size) in 28 comparisons with intervals between sessions varying from 1 day to more than 1 year. Heart rate reactions to tasks show an average-weighted Z of 0.732 +/- 0.031 (r = 0.62), with Z = 0.575 +/- 0.034 (r = 0.52) for systolic blood pressure and Z = 0.313 +/- 0.035 (r = 0.30) for diastolic blood pressure. It is argued that the validity of mental stress tests can be judged in relation to several different aspects, specifically, methodological, ecological, diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic validities. The nature of these standards is described, and pertinent literature is presented. [less ▲]