The monocyte response to acute myocardial infarction- dynamic changes in monocyte gene expression -

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Hendrik Sager
• Subject Area: Cardiology, Angiology
• Term: from 2012 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 214414803

Monocytes respond to the inflammatory stimulus of an acute myocardial infarction. They are mobilized out of the reservoir organs bone marrow and spleen into the blood, migrate from the blood into the ischemic cardiac tissue, and participate in infarct wound healing. Despite the fact that monocytes massively accumulate in the ischemic myocardium, they have hardly been recognized as therapeutic targets for the treatment of myocardial infarction which is mainly due to our current lack of knowledge on this monocyte response. We hypothesize that a serial global gene expression analysis in monocytes from the all involved key organs/tissues will mirror the reactive changes of these cells at various stages of myocardial infarction. Using microarray technology in a mouse model, we will analyze the global gene expression (messenger and microRNA) in monocytes from bone marrow, spleen, blood and heart before and at several time points following acute myocardial infarction. By means of our explorative study, we will identify genes with so far not known regulations in cardiac ischemia and will investigate their interplay. These genes and their respective gene products could serve as new drug targets for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction. Our study will greatly extend our current understanding of the monocyte biology during acute ischemia and will bring monocytes a big step closer to a therapeutic use.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor Dr. Matthias Nahrendorf