Skeletal muscle atrophy in congestive heart failure

(Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association) Patients with advanced congestive heart failure lose skeletal muscle mass, but their heart muscles become enlarged to provide the body with an adequate supply of blood and oxygen. It has been known that the protein angiotensin II plays a villainous role in this process. Now, Dr. Philipp Du Bois and the cardiologist PD Dr. Jens Fielitz (Experimental and Clinical Research Center, ECRC) in Berlin, have elucidated the process and identified new therapeutic targets.
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news