Communication in the heart: The role of the innate immune system in coordinating cellular responses to ischemic injury

Ischemic cardiac injury is the leading cause of heart failure and mortality in the USA and is a major expense to health-care systems. Once the heart is injured, a highly dynamic and coordinated immune response is initiated, which is dependent on both resident and recruited leukocytes. The goal of the inflammatory response is to remove ischemic and necrotic material and to promote infarct healing. If this system is perturbed, the myocardium heals poorly, leading to significant left ventricular dysfunction. Understanding how inflammatory cells coordinate and interact with each other is required prior to designing therapeutic interventions that target pathological processes at play and leave untouched those processes that are protective. This review will discuss the intercellular cross talk between cells of the innate immune system following myocardial ischemic injury and how that response is coordinated over time.