# Metabolic Signatures Underlying Cardiac Function for Heart Failure in Multi-Ethnic Populations

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON · 2020 · $763,166

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Heart failure (HF) affects more than 6 million American adults, and the estimated prevalence and cost of care is
expected to increase markedly. HF is characterized by cardiac metabolic dysfunction, including impaired
branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) catabolism, decreased fatty acid oxidation and depressed urea cycle function.
With the advent of high-throughput metabolomics, scores of circulating metabolic signatures have been
identified to assist clinical management of HF. Perturbations in myocardial energy metabolism are detectable in
at-risk individuals prior to the development of HF, and may contribute to alterations in cardiac structure and
function that underlie HF. However, the role of metabolic dysfunction in the changes of cardiac structure and
function and its relationship to the development of HF has not been well studied, specifically among African and
Hispanic Americans, the two largest minority groups in the U.S. who exhibit a disproportionate risk of HF. Our
previous work and preliminary results support that serum metabolites, reflecting systemic metabolism and
myocardial energetics, and their genetic determinants are associated with cardiac dysfunction and HF risk, in
both consistent and divergent fashion across different ethnic groups. The goal of this study is to identify serum
metabolic signatures along with their genetic determinants that contribute to cardiac dysfunction and HF risk
in European Americans (EAs), African Americans (AAs) and Hispanic Americans (HAs). This proposed study
will leverage the rich infrastructure of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study and the Hispanic
Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), two prospective cohorts with unique resources
encompassing metabolome profiles, genomic data, measures of cardiac structure/function, and HF follow-up.
Our aims are: (1) to identify metabolic signatures associated with subclinical cardiac dysfunction and their
association with progression of cardiac dysfunction and HF risk; and (2) to identify genetic determinants of
metabolites related to subclinical cardiac dysfunction, and their association with cardiac dysfunction, its
progression and HF risk. We will apply integrative approaches to identify potential causal genetic and metabolic
markers implemented in HF etiology, and consider the potential for effect modification by race/ethnicity and
sex. Our team is uniquely positioned, given our expertise in metabolome profiling, genomics, cardiac
structure/function, HF adjudication, biostatistics and bioinformatics. The results of this research will enable
continued scientific progress toward an understanding of HF pathophysiology, with direct implications for
prevention and potential therapies.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9902518
- **Project number:** 5R01HL141824-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCI CTR HOUSTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Bing Yu
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $763,166
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-04-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9902518

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9902518, Metabolic Signatures Underlying Cardiac Function for Heart Failure in Multi-Ethnic Populations (5R01HL141824-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9902518. Licensed CC0.

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