Gene expression in cardiac hypertrophy.

Cardiac hypertrophy due to hemodynamic overload is a harbinger of morbidity and mortality in humans. The development of hypertrophy involves both quantitative and qualitative changes in gene expression that are thought to produce an enlarged organ more capable of meeting its new functional requirements. The genes are normal, but the way in which they are regulated is modified. Analysis of these changes and the mechanisms involved are essential if we are to understand the role that hypertrophy plays in the pathogenesis of heart failure.