Intracellular Signaling of Cardiac Fibroblasts

Long regarded as a mere accessory cell for the cardiomyocyte, the cardiac fibroblast is now recognized as a critical determinant of cardiac function in health and disease. A recent renaissance in fibroblast-centered research has fostered a better understanding than ever before of the biology of fibroblasts and their contractile counterparts, myofibroblasts. While advanced methodological approaches, including transgenics, lineage fate mapping, and improved cell marker identification have helped to facilitate this new work, the primary driver is arguably the contribution of myofibroblasts to cardiac pathophysiology including fibrosis and arrhythmogenesis. Fibrosis is a natural sequel to numerous common cardiac pathologies including myocardial infarction and hypertension, and typically exacerbates cardiovascular disease and progression to heart failure, yet no therapies currently exist to specifically target fibrosis. The regulatory processes and intracellular signaling pathways governing fibroblast and myofibroblast behavior thus represent important points of inquiry for the development of antifibrotic treatments. While steady progress is being made in uncovering the signaling pathways specific for cardiac fibroblast function (including proliferation, phenotype conversion, and matrix synthesis), much of what is currently known of fibroblast signaling mechanisms is derived from noncardiac fibroblast populations. Given the heterogeneity of fibroblasts across tissues, this dearth of information further underscores the need for progress in cardiac fibroblast biological research. (C) 2015 American Physiological Society.