Danger Signals in the Initiation of the Inflammatory Response after Myocardial Infarction

Figure 2

Proposed simplified mediators of danger signal release during myocardial infarction. Necrotic cells in the myocardium are leaky and release a subset of DAMPs, for instance, mtDNA and the DNA binding protein HMGB1. Furthermore, viable cells get stress signals from their surroundings and start to produce and secrete a range of proteins. These cells start the production of the EDA splice variant of fibronectin, HSPs and the matricellular proteins CCN1, osteopontin, galectins, and tenascin-C. Both the proteins released by necrotic cells and the produced proteins by stressed cells are able to activate or aggravate the immune response in the heart following MI.