Protein linked to chronic heart failure identified

Researchers in Japan have identified a receptor protein on the surface of heart cells that promotes chronic heart failure. The study, “Corticotropin releasing hormone receptor 2 exacerbates chronic cardiac dysfunction,” published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, suggests that inhibiting this protein could help treat a disease that affects more than 20 million people worldwide.

Chronic heart failure is caused by a variety of conditions that damage the heart, including coronary heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. Although the heart initially tries to compensate for this damage and maintain its function by, for example, growing larger, cardiac function gradually declines until the heart is no longer able to pump enough blood and oxygen around the body.

A team of researchers led by Mikito Takefuji from Nagoya University School of Medicine discovered that a signaling protein called corticotropin releasing hormone receptor 2 (Crhr2) is expressed on the surface of heart muscle cells, or cardiomyocytes, and that Crhr2 levels increase in mice suffering from heart failure.