GA ČR 15-14200S

2015

2017

RNDr. Jiří Petrák, Ph.D., 1. LF UK Praha

Iron deficiency is observed in 50 percent of patients with heart failure. The deficiency is not only implicated in the development of anemia in heart failure, but also in the depletion of iron in myocardial tissue. Depletion of cardiac iron can contribute to the disease progression. However, causes and molecular mechanisms involved in the systemic and cardiac iron deficiency in heart failure are unknown. Tissue and body iron regulation is orchestrated by the peptide hormone hepcidin which is therefore central to this project. In addition to the effect of circulating hepcidin, autocrine/paracrine effect of cardiac hepcidin expression may play an important role in the iron homeostasis of cardiac muscle. Our aim therefore is to elucidate the function of systemic and cardiac hepcidin in local iron homeostasis in heart failure. Combined study of cultured rat cardiomyocytes, rat model of heart failure and explanted human hearts should provide a complex insight into the processes.