Targeting senescent macrophages to improve heart failure outcomes

Ended Project Grant Awarded Last action

Award ID
R01HL179012
Recipient
Awarding agency
Obligated
$1,906,121

Award facts

Assistance listing
93.837 Cardiovascular Diseases Research
Completion date
Place of performance
Texas, USA

Award details come from USAspending.gov.

Description

Abstract
Heart failure (HF) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite the availability of various therapies, preventing the maladaptive changes associated with HF continues to be a challenge. This R01 project will elucidate the mechanistic aspects of how cardiac tissue-resident macrophages (TRMS) contribute to adverse remodeling in the heart during HF. Our long-term goal is to target innate immune response in the heart to pause and even prevent HF progression. Over the past decade, the PI's lab and others have demonstrated that cardiac TRMS play cardioprotective roles in various cardiac diseases and HF conditions. However, preliminary studies on human failing hearts and mouse HF models showed that in HF conditions, cardiac TRMS transitioned into a pathologically senescent state (SENTRM), which correlates with cardiomyocyte (CM) stress and inflammation. Interestingly, this transition is reversible with interventions that can unload the failing heart, suggesting the therapeutic significance of SENTRM modulation in HF. The central hypothesis is that macrophage senescence promotes CM dysfunction in HF involving chronic inflammation and impaired clearance of CM debris, the mechanisms of which will be dissected in the following three aims. Aim 1 will determine whether TRM senescence contributes to CM inflammation through both the loss of steady-state TRMS and the rise of senescent TRMS. Aim 2 will determine whether sentrms have an impaired clearance function, specifically their role in removing CM mitochondrial debris-a key factor in heart function deterioration. Aim 3 will address the upstream mechanisms leading to TRM senescence, focusing on whether blocking interleukin-6 signal reverses macrophage senescence. This project is conceptually and technically innovative, involving cutting-edge single-nucleus profiling, human patient-derived cell-based models, and mouse genetic tools to test the hypothesis and elucidate the underlying mechanisms of macrophage senescence in HF. The mechanistic insights gained from these studies will enable the development of novel therapeutic strategies that specifically target macrophage senescence to prevent adverse cardiac remodeling during HF. Thus, this project has a solid translational impact, opening new avenues for improving treatment outcomes in patients with HF, an area of high significance to NIH/nhlbi.

Transactions

Action Obligated Date
Amendment $0
Amendment $627,077
Amendment $627,077
Amendment $0
Amendment $0
Original award $651,967

Quick answers

Who received award R01HL179012?

R01HL179012 was awarded to Texas Heart Institute by National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (National Institutes of Health) on August 1, 2025.

How much is award R01HL179012 worth?

$1,906,121 has been obligated on R01HL179012.

On GovTribe

See this award's full record

  • Every transaction and subaward
  • The recipient's other awards and teaming partners
  • Similar grant awards
  • Ask GovTribe AI about this award