The Leland Stanford Junior University, also known as Stanford University, has been awarded a $1,204,160 Project Grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837). The grant, awarded on July 16, 2024, will support research to evaluate the potential of activating the AMPK-BACH1-NRF2 signaling pathway as a therapeutic approach for treating inherited forms of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a leading cause of heart failure. Key objectives of the 4-year project include: 1) Exploring the selectivity of pathway activation for restoring contractile function in different genetic forms of inherited DCM; 2) Defining the mechanism(s) of action by identifying downstream target genes essential for restoring contractile function; 3) Investigating whether activating the pathway normalizes metabolic and/or endoplasmic reticulum/sarcoplasmic reticulum stress; and 4) Testing whether activating the pathway mitigates clinical features of DCM in a mouse model. The research will leverage both human induced pluripotent stem cell cardiomyocyte models and mouse transgenic models to advance a mechanism-based approach to treat inherited DCM.
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