Key result
Disrupted intercellular communication drives cardiac disorders and highlights novel targets for cell-based therapies.
Why the study?
Intercellular communication derailment has been implicated in diverse cardiac disorders, underscoring the need for an integrated perspective on cardiac cellular crosstalk to inform future therapeutic strategies.
A comprehensive understanding of intercellular communication networks in the heart is vital for developing novel therapeutic strategies, particularly for improving the engraftment and efficacy of cell-based therapies in heart disease.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May support targeting intercellular networks to improve cell therapies in heart disease; leaves open clinical efficacy pending prospective trials.
Well-orchestrated intercellular communication networks are pivotal to maintaining cardiac homeostasis and to ensuring adaptative responses and repair after injury. Intracardiac communication is sustained by cell-cell crosstalk, directly via gap junctions (GJ) and tunneling nanotubes (TNT), indirectly through the exchange of soluble factors and extracellular vesicles (EV), and by cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions. GJ-mediated communication between cardiomyocytes and with other cardiac cell types enables electrical impulse propagation, required to sustain synchronized heart beating. In addition, TNT-mediated organelle transfer has been associated with cardioprotection, whilst communication via EV plays diverse pathophysiological roles, being implicated in angiogenesis, inflammation and fibrosis. Connecting various cell populations, the ECM plays important functions not only in maintaining the heart structure, but also acting as a signal transducer for intercellular crosstalk. Although with distinct etiologies and clinical manifestations, intercellular communication derailment has been implicated in several cardiac disorders, including myocardial infarction and hypertrophy, highlighting the importance of a comprehensive and integrated view of complex cell communication networks. In this review, I intend to provide a critical perspective about the main mechanisms contributing to regulate cellular crosstalk in the heart, which may be considered in the development of future therapeutic strategies, using cell-based therapies as a paradigmatic example. This Review has an associated Future Leader to Watch interview with the author.
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Tânia Martins‐Marques (2021) conducted a review in Cardiac disorders including myocardial infarction and hypertrophy. Intercellular communication mechanisms (gap junctions, TNT, EV, ECM) was evaluated. Derailment of intercellular communication networks, including gap junctions, tunneling nanotubes, extracellular vesicles, and extracellular matrix interactions, is implicated in cardiac disorders and represents a potential target to enhance cell-based therapies.
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