AHA-JCS Joint Symposium
Functional Importance of Immune Cells in the Heart

There are three major concepts and related treatments for heart failure. Diuretics for fluid retention, cardiotonic and vasodilator agent for mechanical failure, and β-blockers, renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system antagonists for impaired inter-organ communication due to neurohormonal abnormalities.
Although β-blockers and renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system antagonists transiently improve cardiac function and prolong survival, they cannot truly cure heart failure. To introduce molecular targeted therapy for the treatment of heart failure, we need to delineate the cellular and molecular basis of heart failure.
In this symposium, we introduce frontier research topics in functional Importance of Immune cells in the normal and diseased heart.