Modulation of Cardiac Gene Expression Profiles

Cardiac myocyte dysfunction is clearly identified as underlying the acute heart failure associated with bacterial infections, sepsis, as well as chronic syndrome following cardiac damage. Cardiac myocytes express functional TLRs and sense PAMPs directly. Although the immunostimulatory potential and receptor-mediated recognition of single stranded RNA (ssRNA) are well documented, no comprehensive analysis of gene expression in response to natutrally occurring bacterial RNA or modified ssRNA has been reported. Using cDNA Microarrays, we have analyzed the gene expression profiles of human adult cardiac myocytes stimulated with S. aureus RNA.