Galectin-3 marks activated macrophages in failure-prone hypertrophied hearts and contributes to cardiac dysfunction.

Abstract

Inflammatory mechanisms have been proposed to be important in heart failure (HF), and cytokines have been implicated to add to the progression of HF. However, it is unclear whether such mechanisms are already activated when hypertrophied hearts still appear well-compensated and whether such early mechanisms contribute to the development of HF.