How Can We Survive the Heart Failure Pandemic Era? Basic Research for Understanding the Pathophysiology of Heart Failure and Development of Novel Therapies

Heart failure is caused by a variety of factors, and although many new drug and non-drug therapies have been developed for its treatment in the past decades, the number of patients with heart failure continues to increase and its prognosis is still poor. In this era, it is necessary to continue to develop new therapies. For that purpose, basic research aimed at a deeper understanding of the pathogenesis of heart failure is essential. To that end, an investigation of the ischaemia-mediated molecular mechanisms of various processes, from adaptive cardiac hypertrophy to contractile failure and DNA damage, as a cause of heart failure, has been undertaken. A novel stratification of heart failure based on comprehensive mutation and gene expression analyses has also been carried out. This article reviews the recent advances in basic heart failure research and treatment. In the future, understanding of the diversity of this disease at the molecular level is expected to lead to the development of optimal therapies that are tailored to the individual patient.