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(Hypertension. 2009;53:236.)
© 2009 American Heart Association, Inc.

Original Articles

Impact of Treatment on Myocardial Lysyl Oxidase Expression and Collagen Cross-Linking in Patients With Heart Failure

Begoña López; Ramón Querejeta; Arantxa González; Javier Beaumont; Mariano Larman; Javier Díez

From the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences (B.L., A.G., J.B., J.D.), Centre for Applied Medical Research, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; Division of Cardiology (R.Q.), Donostia University Hospital, San Sebastián, Spain; Division of Hemodynamics (M.L.), Guipuzcoa Polyclinics, San Sebastián, Spain; and Department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery (J.D.), University Clinic of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.

Correspondence to Dr Javier Díez, Área de Ciencias Cardiovasculares, CIMA, Avenida Pío XII 55, 31008 Pamplona, Spain. E-mail jadimar{at}unav.es

The aim of this study was to investigate whether torasemide modifies collagen cross-linking in the failing human heart. We analyzed the degree of cross-linking and the expression of the enzyme lysyl oxidase, which regulates cross-linking, in the myocardium of patients with chronic heart failure at baseline and after 8 months of treatment with either torasemide or furosemide in addition to their standard heart failure therapy. Whereas lysyl oxidase protein expression was very scarce in normal hearts, it was highly expressed in failing hearts. Cross-linking was increased (P<0.001) in heart failure patients compared with normal hearts. These 2 parameters decreased (P=0.021 and P=0.034) in torasemide-treated patients and remained unchanged in furosemide-treated patients. In addition, more (P=0.009) patients showed normalization of left ventricular chamber stiffness in the torasemide subgroup than in the furosemide subgroup after treatment. Lysyl oxidase expression correlated with cross-linking (r=0.661; P<0.001), and cross-linking correlated with left ventricular chamber stiffness (r=0.452; P=0.002) in all patients. These findings show for the first time that lysyl oxidase overexpression is associated with enhanced collagen cross-linking in the failing human heart. In addition, we report that the ability of torasemide to correct both lysyl oxidase overexpression and enhanced collagen cross-linking results in normalization of left ventricular chamber stiffness in patients with heart failure. Lysyl oxidase may thus represent a target for reduction of stiff collagen and improvement of left ventricular mechanical properties in heart failure patients.

Key Words: clinical science • collagen • extracellular matrix • left ventricular chamber stiffness lysyl oxidase • torasemide