{"doi":"10.1172/jci.insight.150161","title":"Fibroblast-specific IKK-β deficiency ameliorates angiotensin II–induced adverse cardiac remodeling in mice","abstract":"Cardiac inflammation and fibrosis contribute significantly to hypertension-related adverse cardiac remodeling. IκB kinase β (IKK-β), a central coordinator of inflammation through activation of NF-κB, has been demonstrated as a key molecular link between inflammation and cardiovascular disease. However, the cell-specific contribution of IKK-β signaling toward adverse cardiac remodeling remains elusive. Cardiac fibroblasts are one of the most populous nonmyocyte cell types in the heart that play a key role in mediating cardiac fibrosis and remodeling. To investigate the function of fibroblast IKK-β, we generated inducible fibroblast-specific IKK-β-deficient mice. Here, we report an important role of IKK-β in the regulation of fibroblast functions and cardiac remodeling. Fibroblast-specific IKK-β-deficient male mice were protected from angiotensin II-induced cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and macrophage infiltration. Ablation of fibroblast IKK-β inhibited angiotensin II-stimulated fibroblast proinflammatory and profibrogenic responses, leading to ameliorated cardiac remodeling and improved cardiac function in IKK-β-deficient mice. Findings from this study establish fibroblast IKK-β as a key factor regulating cardiac fibrosis and function in hypertension-related cardiac remodeling.","journal":"JCI Insight","year":2021,"id":161632,"datarank":0.4493598410330987,"base_score":2.995732273553991,"endowment":2.995732273553991,"self_citation_contribution":0.4493598410330987,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.4493598410330987,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":19,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9469,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":480472,"name":"Zhaojie Meng","orcid":"0000-0003-4857-3038","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":673939,"name":"Rebecca Hernandez","orcid":"0000-0003-4127-3323","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":480474,"name":"Changcheng Zhou","orcid":"0000-0001-7649-0710","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":480473,"name":"Weiwei Lu","orcid":"0000-0002-1982-390X","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":79,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:44:56.409311Z","pmid":"34324438","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}