NOVEL TARGET GENES FOR DISEASES OF THE HEART

摘要

The present invention relates to a variety of genes abnormally expressed in heart tissue as well as to fragments of such genes. Assessment of the expression level of these genes may be used for testing the predisposition of mammals and preferably humans for a heart disease or for an acute state of such a disease. Preferred diseases in accordance with the invention are congestive heart failure, dilative cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and ischemic cardiomyopathy. The present invention further relates to methods of identifying compounds capable of normalizing the expression level of the aforementioned genes and of further genes affected by the abnormal expression. The identified compounds may be used for formulating compositions, preferably pharmaceutical compositions for preventing or treating diseases. They may also be used as lead compounds for the development of medicaments having an improved efficiency, a longer half-life, a decreased toxicity etc. and to be employed in the treatment of heart diseases. Included in the invention are also somatic gene therapy methods comprising the introduction of at least one functional copy of any of the above-mentioned genes into a suitable cell. Finally, the invention relates to non-human transgenic animals comprising at least one of the aforementioned genes in their germ line. The transgenic animals of the invention may be used for the development of medicaments for the treatment of heart diseases.