Mitral Valve Disease: From Genetic Mechanisms to Improved Repair
- Albert A. HAGEGE, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Paris (France)
- Robert A. LEVINE, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (USA)
- Daniel P. JUDGE, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (USA)
- Hervé LE MAREC, l’Institut du Thorax/INSERM U533, Nantes (France)
- Robert MARKWALD, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston (USA)
- Susan A. SLAUGENHAUPT, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (USA)
- Magdi YACOUB, Imperial College, London (UK)
- Elena AIKAWA, Harvard Medical School, Boston (USA)
- Joyce BISCHOFF, Harvard Medical School, Boston (USA)
- Patrick BRUNEVAL, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Paris (France)
- Adrian CHESTER, Imperial College, London (UK)
- Jose Luis DE LA POMPA, CNIC National Cardiovascular Research Center, Madrid (Spain)
- Harry C. DIETZ, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (USA)
- Xavier JEUNEMAITRE, Université René Descartes, Paris (France)
- Calum MACRAE, Harvard Medical School, Boston (USA)
- Emmanuel MESSAS, Université René Descartes, Paris (France)
- Vincent PROBST, l’Institut du Thorax/INSERM U533, Nantes (France)
- Michel PUCEAT, INSERM U633, Evry (France)
- Bruce R. ROSENGARD, Harvard Medical School, Boston (USA)
- Nadia ROSENTHAL, EMBL, Rome (Italy) & Imperial College, London (UK)
- Ehud SCHWAMMENTHAL, Tel Aviv University (Israel)
- Jean-Jacques SCHOTT, l’Institut du Thorax/INSERM U533, Nantes (France)
The function of the mitral valve is crucial to the ability of the heart to maintain the forward flow of blood, and to protect the lungs from high pressure backflow. Although there are a number of important diseases affecting the mitral valve, constituting a major source of mortality and morbidity worldwide, little is known about it underlying biology. One of the central questions taken up by the members of this network is how the mitral leaflets, the effectors of valve closure, come to attain the size that they do. Where they become relatively too large, or too small, there may be pathological consequences. This network unites the leading scientists working on mitral valve biology today. Together they hope to describe, at the genetic and molecular level, the factors which control the growth and development of the mitral valve, and to encourage new thinking in the treatment of mitral valve disease.