LAUSR

Background Heart failure (HF) remains a major cause of mortality and morbidity [1] accounting for one in three deaths. Nearly 800 000 Americans experience an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) annually and about half develop HF within 5 years of their first event. This highlights the urgent need for novel therapeutic approaches to repair the injured heart muscle, improve cardiac function, quality of life, and long-term survival. Although the current standard of care including β-blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors modestly improve long-term prognosis, major efforts by the biomedical community have been spent on novel therapeutic approaches to further improve clinical outcomes.