Research Axis

The immune system is an essential component of a healthy heart. The myocardium is home to a rich population of different immune cell subsets with functional compartmentalization both during steady state and during different forms of inflammation. In addition, different forms of myocardial stress or injury, including ischemic (ischemia-reperfusion or myocardial infarction) and non-ischemic (hypertension or myocarditis), promote the recruitment of inflammatory cells with reparative and protective, but also pathogenic properties.

During different forms of inflammation, an influx of immune cells into the myocardium change the cardiac landscape and environmental milieu. Both cells of the adaptive (T and B lymphocytes) and innate immune system (such as monocytes or neutrophils) participate in cardiac inflammation processes potentially determining beneficial or deleterious outcomes.