The increased binding ability among these Z-band components caused by the HCM-associated

mutations might increase the stiffness of sarcomere structure and increase the passive tension in cardiomyocytes. Because the stiff sarcomere might lead to diastolic dysfunction in muscle contractility, the molecular mechanism of the Z-band HCM could be linked to that in the sarcomere HCM, i.e., increased Ca2+-sensitivity of muscle contraction. On the other hand, other HCM-associated mutations, TTN Ser3799Tyr and OBSCN Arg4344Gln, altered binding to FHL2 and titin/connectin, respectively (14, 15). Because FHL2 and obscurin are localized around the Z- to I-band and mediate intracellular Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical signaling molecules (16, 17), the altered binding of obscurin and FHL2 to titin/connectin might lead to dysfunction of signaling pathways. Dilated cardiomyopathy Dilated Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a cardiac disease characterized by cardiac enlargement associated with systolic dysfunction and often manifests with congestive heart failure (7). Although the majority of DCM patients are sporadic cases, apparent family histories, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical consistent with autosomal dominant inheritance,

can be found in 20-35% of patients, suggesting that genetic abnormalities cause DCM in some of the patients (18). There have been many reports on the genetic etiologies of DCM (Table ​(Table1),1), which may be classified into at least 5 groups: abnormalities in the components for cytoskeletal proteins of cardiomyocytes, such as mutations in genes for desmin (DES), dystrophin (DMD), δ-sarcoglycan (SAGD), metavinculin (VCL), α-actinin (ACTN2), titin/connectin Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical (TTN), MLP (CSRP3), T-cap/telethonin (TCAP) and Cypher/ZASP (LDB3); mutations in the genes for sarcomeric proteins of the heart, such as cardiac β-myosin heavy chain (MYH7), Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical cardiac

α-myosin heavy chain (MYH6), α-cardiac actin (ACTC), myosin binding protein-C (MYBPC3), cardiac troponin I (TNNI3), cardiac troponin C (TNNC1), cardiac troponin T (TNNT2) and α-tropomyosin (TPM1); defects in the component of nuclear envelope, which may participate in signal Sitaxentan transduction between the cytoplasm and the nucleus, such as mutations in the gene for lamin A/C (LMNA); mutations affecting supply and/or regulation of energy metabolism, such as CPTase II (CPT2) deficiency and mutations in tafazzin (TAZ) and ATP-sensitive K channel (ABCC9); cardiac ion channel mutations (Table ​(Table1).1). In STI571 nmr addition, a mutation in a transcriptional co-activator gene (EYA4) was recently reported to cause DCM accompanied by hearing loss (19). Among these genetic causes, the majority can be classified into cytoarchitectural abnormalities (20). In addition, it is now widely accepted that DCM and HCM are allelic disorders due to the mutations in genes for sarcomere/Z-band components, MYH7, MYH6, TNNT2, TPM1, MYBPC, TNNI3, TNNC1, ACTC, TTN, CSRP3, TCAP, LDB3, ACTN2 and VCL.