Myocardial Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 and Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein-3 Gene Expression in Failing Hearts Harvested From Patients Undergoing Cardiac Transplantation

Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) might play a pathogenic role in heart failure. We showed significantly increased myocardial IGFBP-3 expression (investigated by real-time polymerase chain reaction) and apoptosis (detected by flow cytometry) in 23 failing hearts from patients undergoing cardiac transplantation for end-stage dilated or ischemic cardiomyopathy, when compared with 10 controls. Higher IGF-1 mRNA levels were shown only in end-stage dilated cardiomyopathy.