Increasing Apoptosis-Related Gene Expression in Human Myocardium with Congestive Heart Failure

Abstract Regulation of apoptosis involves a number of genes that can be classified into broad categories. These include genes that act as effectors of apoptosis, such as p53, c-myc, bax, p21- WAF, and genes that primarily suppress apoptosis, such as Bcl-2 gene family. These genes have been reported to be responsible for the modulation of certain stress induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. It has also been reported that apoptosis involved in cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction, reperfusion injury, left ventricular hypertrophy, and hypertension. However, the expression of apoptosis-related genes in human cardiomyocytes in normal subjects and in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) remains unclear. Therefore, the present study was designed to determine the expression and localization of apoptosis-related genes in human heart. Five normal subjects and five end-stage CHF human ventricular cardiac tissues were obtained from cardiac transplantation. The expression of p53, p21-WAF and Bcl-2 were determined by immunohistochemical staining (IHCS).