DNA methylation in cardiac myocyte development. Mus musculus

The heart is a highly specialized organ with essential function for the organism throughout development and life. A large variety of insults, including hypertension, oxygen deficiency during coronary heart disease, gene mutations etc. may damage the heart, thus compromising its fundamental pump function. The adult heart has very limited capacity to generate new cardiac cells in response to injury and thus heart disease is the most frequent cause of death worldwide. Previous studies have uncovered epigenetic mechanisms which are involved in the pathogenesis and repair mechanisms of heart failure, including chromatin remodeling by histone deacetylases and bromodomain proteins as well as microRNAs. However, only few studies have addressed the role of DNA methylation during cardiac development and disease.