Previously, Wende’s group assisted in a study that identified links between DNA methylation in all cause heart failure associated with the ability to use different metabolic fuels to maintain contractility, namely a decrease in oxidative metabolism.[2] An additional study from the group found molecular mechanisms specific to ischemic heart failure, which identified a key epigenetic regulator (i.e. EZH2) as likely having an active role in gene expression regulation involved in both metabolic and structural remodeling.[3]
In the new study highlighted here, the research group and lead investigator, former Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) student Mark E. Pepin, M.D., Ph.D., followed up on an observation in the prior ischemia study which pointed to the fact that the greatest differences in DNA methylation in their patient population were between race. The group then received funding from the NIH-funded Center for Healthy African American Men through Partnerships (CHAAMPS) to