microRNAs as regulators of cardiac vascular remodeling

Heart failure (HF) impairs patients’ quality of life and burdens the health care system. Despite the availability of the current therapies, the mortality rate still ranges from 40-60%. So there is a necessity for the development of novel therapeutic options. This thesis focuses on the contribution of microRNAs (miRs) in the blood vessel formation (angiogenesis) in the heart that is impaired during progression of HF. We discover two microRNAs, miR-216a and miR-200c, which induces and inhibits blood vessel formation, respectively. These findings may lead to the development of new therapies for HF with miR-216a and miR-200c as target molecules.