The adult heart requires baseline expression of the transcription factor Hand2 to withstand right ventricular pressure overload.

Aims: Research on the pathophysiology of right ventricular (RV) failure has, in spite of the associated high mortality and morbidity, lagged behind compared to the left ventricle (LV). Previous work from our lab revealed that the embryonic basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor heart and neural crest derivatives expressed-2 (Hand2) is re-expressed in the adult heart and activates a 'foetal gene programme' contributing to pathological cardiac remodelling under conditions of LV pressure overload. As such, ablation of cardiac expression of Hand2 conferred protection to cardiac stress and abrogated the maladaptive effects that were observed upon increased expression levels.

Non-Coding RNAs as Blood-Based Biomarkers in Cardiovascular Disease.

In 2020, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain a leading cause of mortality and morbidity, contributing to the burden of the already overloaded health system. Late or incorrect diagnosis of patients with CVDs compromises treatment efficiency and patient's outcome. Diagnosis of CVDs could be facilitated by detection of blood-based biomarkers that reliably reflect the current condition of the heart.

Non-coding RNAs in Cardiac Intercellular Communication.

Intercellular communication allows for molecular information to be transferred from cell to cell, in order to maintain tissue or organ homeostasis. Alteration in the process due to changes, either on the vehicle or the cargo information, may contribute to pathological events, such as cardiac pathological remodeling. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), namely exosomes, are double-layer vesicles secreted by cells to mediate intercellular communication, both locally and systemically.