Biomarkers of necrosis and myocardial remodeling

Abstract

Multiple biomarkers have helped us to understand the pathophysiology of cardiovascular medicine, being ischemic heart disease and heart failure the most active fields in which biomarkers have shown to be useful. Furthermore, in several cardiovascular diseases, as heart failure, hypertrophic or dilated cardiomyopathies have demonstrated the presence of remodeling in both ventricles, with mainly changes in the extracellular matrix. The initial post-MI phase of left ventricular remodeling is resulted from a fibrotic repair of the necrotic area with scar formation, elongation, and thinning of the infarcted zone. This book chapter summarizes a review about biomarkers of necrosis and myocardial remodeling and all the knowledge that their study has improved the complex role of this cardiac pathology. The continued research of new molecules that helped us to understand necrosis and remodeling focuses our attention in different groups of biomarkers as troponins, growth factors, matrix metalloproteinases, and collagen peptides. This chapter is also focused on how the renin-angiotensin system influences the cardiac remodeling and the role of microRNAs in extracellular changes.