Inflammation and Reparative Process After Cardiac Injury

The accumulation of immune cells is amongst the earliest responses that manifest in the cardiac tissue after injury. Both innate and adaptive immunity coordinate distinct and mutually non-exclusive events governing cardiac repair including elimination of the cellular debris, compensatory growth of the remaining cardiac tissue, activation of resident or circulating precursor cells, quantitative and qualitative modifications of the vascular network and formation of a fibrotic scar. Furthermore, inflammatory cells are an overflowing source of biological entities with non-canonical roles on cardiac tissue. The present Research Topic will illustrate the mounting evidences suggesting that the inflammatory response guides the reparative process following cardiac damage. Complete understanding of how inflammatory cells govern cardiac repair could also pave the way to factual therapeutic strategies tackling the immune compartment.

Within this Research Topic, we welcome articles (e.g. reviews, original research or methodology articles) describing the cross-talk between inflammatory cells and the pathological heart as well as the development of putative immuno-therapies for patients with acute myocardial infarction or heart failure.