Research Spotlight-Dr. Xiaochen (Alex) He

Heart failure is one of the leading causes of death in the United States and worldwide. We found that heart failure development is associated with increased autoreactive lymphocyte infiltration in the heart and lungs. Our overall research objective is to understand the mechanism of autoreactive lymphocytes in regulating cardiopulmonary inflammation, development of heart failure development, and identifying new therapeutic targets to treat heart failure.

One of our recent findings is that heart failure is associated with an increase of IFN-γ by several autoreactive lymphocytes, whereas methods (immunotherapy by administration of blocking antibodies or manipulation of gene expression) that suppress these autoreactive lymphocytes were effective in halting cardiopulmonary inflammation, heart failure development, and the consequent progression of heart failure.

The findings from this project will advance our understanding of cardiac and pulmonary toxicity during the development of heart failure. Insight into the mechanisms of infiltration of autoreactive lymphocytes and cardiopulmonary toxicity is impactful as most of the identified targets/pathways can be modified by currently available therapeutic approaches.

For more information, please click on the links below:

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