Interleukin-33 mediates intestinal influence on heart function in mice with heart failure

AIM:To verify the assumption that changed endocrine function of gastrointestinal tract under heart failure condition may exert some influence on cardiac performance. METHODS: We developed a transverse aortic constriction (TAC) model and sham groups in mice. After 3 months, heart failure was confirmed by echocardiography. We analyzed gene expression profiles of ileum and myocardial samples. Among all the genes detected on microarray, we selected genes whose expression was significantly different in ileum samples between sham and TAC groups. Subsequently, the functional analysis of these genes was performed and the biological functions most significant to the dataset were identified. RESULTS: Based on the established statistical approach, 1,467 genes were identified in ileum samples, of which 462 were upregulated in TAC group. After refining the screening condition and performing a literature-based search, Interleukin-33 (IL-33) gene was identified with high expression level and strong connection with the regulation of cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSION: Identification of genes that are differentially expressed in ileum of heart failure mice supports the suggestion that microarray analyses may be useful in studying the role of gastrointestinal tract in heart failure. Inflammatory IL-33 may mediate the intestinal influence on the heart function in heart failure mice. These results need further investigation and validation.