Clinical and Therapeutic Implications of Fibrosis in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Summary

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common genetic cardiomyopathy and remains the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young people and an important cause of heart failure symptoms and death at any age. In HCM, pathological remodeling of the left ventricle involving myocardial fibrosis is likely a major contributor to cardiac dysfunction and also a nidus for the generation of ventricular arrhythmias. Serum markers of collagen turnover have been shown to reliably reflect the magnitude of myocardial fibrosis in a variety of cardiovascular diseases. In addition, aldosterone antagonist drugs have been shown to decrease fibrous tissue formation in the myocardium in certain pathologic cardiovascular states in which aldosterone production is increased. In HCM, aldosterone production is up-regulated and has been implicated in the formation of myocardial fibrosis. Therefore, the specific aims of this proposal are to: 1. assess serum markers of collagen turnover at baseline and correlate these findings with a variety of clinical and morphologic disease parameters 2. examine the effects of a 12-month treatment with the aldosterone antagonist spironolactone on magnitude of fibrosis as measured by serum markers of collagen turnover as well as changes in clinical and morphologic disease parameters. 3. explore the effects of a 12-month treatment with aldosterone antagonist spironolactone on heart failure status, diastolic function, arrhythmic burden, and total LV mass and quantity of fibrosis by CMR. The results of this proposal will offer important insights into the clinical significance of myocardial fibrosis in this primary genetic cardiomyopathy. The demonstration that spironolactone decreases fibrosis and improves clinical course would provide the rational for a larger multicenter clinical trial evaluating this novel therapy for improving clinical outcome in patients with HCM.

Timeline

Start

2007-11

Primary completion

2011-11

Completion

2012-11

Publications

• Background Maron BJ, Ommen SR, Semsarian C, Spirito P, Olivotto I, Maron MS. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: present and future, with translation into contemporary cardiovascular medicine. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2014 Jul 8;64(1):83-99. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2014.05.003.
• Background Chan RH, Maron BJ, Olivotto I, Pencina MJ, Assenza GE, Haas T, Lesser JR, Gruner C, Crean AM, Rakowski H, Udelson JE, Rowin E, Lombardi M, Cecchi F, Tomberli B, Spirito P, Formisano F, Biagini E, Rapezzi C, De Cecco CN, Autore C, Cook EF, Hong SN, Gibson CM, Manning WJ, Appelbaum E, Maron MS. Prognostic value of quantitative contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance for the evaluation of sudden death risk in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Circulation. 2014 Aug 5;130(6):484-95. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.007094.
• Background Weng Z, Yao J, Chan RH, He J, Yang X, Zhou Y, He Y. Prognostic Value of LGE-CMR in HCM: A Meta-Analysis. JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2016 Dec;9(12):1392-1402. doi: 10.1016/j.jcmg.2016.02.031. Epub 2016 Jul 20.
• Background Lim DS, Lutucuta S, Bachireddy P, Youker K, Evans A, Entman M, Roberts R, Marian AJ. Angiotensin II blockade reverses myocardial fibrosis in a transgenic mouse model of human hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Circulation. 2001 Feb 13;103(6):789-91. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.103.6.789.
• Background Tsybouleva N, Zhang L, Chen S, Patel R, Lutucuta S, Nemoto S, DeFreitas G, Entman M, Carabello BA, Roberts R, Marian AJ. Aldosterone, through novel signaling proteins, is a fundamental molecular bridge between the genetic defect and the cardiac phenotype of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Circulation. 2004 Mar 16;109(10):1284-91. doi: 10.1161/01.CIR.0000121426.43044.2B. Epub 2004 Mar 1.
• Background Pitt B, Remme W, Zannad F, Neaton J, Martinez F, Roniker B, Bittman R, Hurley S, Kleiman J, Gatlin M; Eplerenone Post-Acute Myocardial Infarction Heart Failure Efficacy and Survival Study Investigators. Eplerenone, a selective aldosterone blocker, in patients with left ventricular dysfunction after myocardial infarction. N Engl J Med. 2003 Apr 3;348(14):1309-21. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa030207. Epub 2003 Mar 31.
• Background Pitt B, Reichek N, Willenbrock R, Zannad F, Phillips RA, Roniker B, Kleiman J, Krause S, Burns D, Williams GH. Effects of eplerenone, enalapril, and eplerenone/enalapril in patients with essential hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy: the 4E-left ventricular hypertrophy study. Circulation. 2003 Oct 14;108(15):1831-8. doi: 10.1161/01.CIR.0000091405.00772.6E. Epub 2003 Sep 29.
• Background Braunwald E, Domanski MJ, Fowler SE, Geller NL, Gersh BJ, Hsia J, Pfeffer MA, Rice MM, Rosenberg YD, Rouleau JL; PEACE Trial Investigators. Angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibition in stable coronary artery disease. N Engl J Med. 2004 Nov 11;351(20):2058-68. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa042739. Epub 2004 Nov 7.
• Background Pfeffer MA, Pitt B, McKinlay SM. Spironolactone for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. N Engl J Med. 2014 Jul 10;371(2):181-2. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc1405715. No abstract available.
• Background Pfeffer MA, Claggett B, Assmann SF, Boineau R, Anand IS, Clausell N, Desai AS, Diaz R, Fleg JL, Gordeev I, Heitner JF, Lewis EF, O'Meara E, Rouleau JL, Probstfield JL, Shaburishvili T, Shah SJ, Solomon SD, Sweitzer NK, McKinlay SM, Pitt B. Regional variation in patients and outcomes in the Treatment of Preserved Cardiac Function Heart Failure With an Aldosterone Antagonist (TOPCAT) trial. Circulation. 2015 Jan 6;131(1):34-42. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.013255. Epub 2014 Nov 18.
• Background Shirani J, Pick R, Roberts WC, Maron BJ. Morphology and significance of the left ventricular collagen network in young patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and sudden cardiac death. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2000 Jan;35(1):36-44. doi: 10.1016/s0735-1097(99)00492-1.
• Background Zannad F, Alla F, Dousset B, Perez A, Pitt B. Limitation of excessive extracellular matrix turnover may contribute to survival benefit of spironolactone therapy in patients with congestive heart failure: insights from the randomized aldactone evaluation study (RALES). Rales Investigators. Circulation. 2000 Nov 28;102(22):2700-6. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.102.22.2700.
• Background Querejeta R, Lopez B, Gonzalez A, Sanchez E, Larman M, Martinez Ubago JL, Diez J. Increased collagen type I synthesis in patients with heart failure of hypertensive origin: relation to myocardial fibrosis. Circulation. 2004 Sep 7;110(10):1263-8. doi: 10.1161/01.CIR.0000140973.60992.9A. Epub 2004 Aug 16.
• Maron MS, Chan RH, Kapur NK, Jaffe IZ, McGraw AP, Kerur R, Maron BJ, Udelson JE. Effect of Spironolactone on Myocardial Fibrosis and Other Clinical Variables in Patients with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. Am J Med. 2018 Jul;131(7):837-841. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2018.02.025. Epub 2018 Mar 28.

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