Gene expression profiling of cardiac-specific overexpression of TNF-α in Des-/- myocardium. Mus musculus

Tumor Necrosis Factor-α is greatly implicated in heart pathophysiology, while it is upregulated in the failing myocardium. A major target in TNF-α-induced heart failure is the muscle specific intermediate filament cytoskeleton, comprised by desmin. We analysed the effect of cardiac-specific overexpression of TNF-α in the Des-/- myocardium, which is a known model of dilated cardiomyopathy. Overall design: Hearts of 3 months old mice (n=3) of Des-/- and TNFαDes-/- genotypes were used for whole genome microarray hybridization analysis.