Myocardial Fibrogenesis—Aetiology, Pathophysiology, Therapeutic Strategies

Dear Colleagues,

Cardiovascular disease affects 26 million adults worldwide and represents the number one cause of death globally. Heart failure (HF)—a chronic, progressive condition characterized by impaired pumping ability of the heart muscle—represents an outcome of various cardiovascular diseases. Despite the progress in the treatment of HF, prevalence and hospitalization rates are constantly increasing, and the outlook remains unfavorable. HF is frequently associated with cardiac fibrosis and immunofibrotic processes. Cardiac fibrosis reflects exaggerated accumulation of stromal cells and extracellular matrix components in the tissue and develops following major ischemic events in the heart, mainly as a reparative process but occurs also in a number of non-ischemic cardiac disorders as a response to increased blood pressure or following systemic or heart-specific inflammation. Understanding the cellular and molecular bases of cardiac fibrogenesis is crucial for identifying potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets in cardiovascular diseases.

In this Special Issue, we encourage the submission of manuscripts describing the mechanisms driving myocardial fibrosis, the cellular source of pathological cardiac myofibroblasts, the impact of myocardial fibrosis on heart dysfunctions, and novel animal and 3D systems modeling human cardiac pathology. We are also highly interested in manuscripts reporting application of preclinical and clinical antifibrotic strategies. Furthermore, studies on the specific signaling pathways responsible for cardiac fibroblast activation, proliferation and fibroblast–myofibroblast transition following the myocardial injury, as well as reports describing immune cell–fibroblast cross-talk in the injured myocardium are within the scope of this Special Issue.

Topics of interests:

• Etiology of myocardial fibrosis
• Fibrosis effects on heart dysfunction
• Cellular sources of cardiac fibroblasts
• Contribution of immune cells to pathological cardiac remodeling
• Molecular signaling controlling myocardial fibrosis
• Animal models of myocardial fibrosis
• 3D in vitro models of cardiac fibrosis

Dr. Gabriela Kania
Dr. Przemyslaw Blyszczuk
Guest Editors

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• Myocardial fibrosis 
• Mechanism of myocardial fibrosis 
• Cardiac fibroblasts progenitors 
• Animal models 
• 3D models