Letter by Li et al Regarding Article, 'Cardiac Fibroblast-Specific Activating Transcription Factor 3 Protects Against Heart Failure by Suppressing MAP2K3-p38 Signaling'

We read with great interest the article by Li et al,1 who demonstrated that the upregulation of ATF3, a cardiac fibroblast–enriched transcription factor, is cardioprotective against hypertensive fibrosis via suppression of Map2K3 expression and p38 MAPK signaling. Specifically, they showed that ATF3 is upregulated in cardiac fibroblasts but not in cardiomyocytes from hypertensive animals and patients with heart failure. ATF3 knockout exaggerated whereas ATF3 overexpression ameliorated ventricular remodeling in hypertensive mice. Their data strongly suggest that upregulation of ATF3 in cardiac fibroblasts is a self-compensatory protective mechanism against ventricular remodeling associated with heart failure. It is important …