Louis Dell’Italia MD

Personal Statement

The overarching theme of Dr. Dell’Italia’s research is to understand the biochemical and molecular mechanisms that regulate left ventricular (LV) remodeling in various forms of heart failure. Over the past 20 years his laboratory has implemented a multi-disciplinary approach incorporating in vitro and in vivo systems in addition to translational / clinical studies that have provided the impetus for the research proposed in this application. This work encompasses cutting-edge approaches to understand mechanisms of myocardial remodeling in response to a pure volume overload of the heart, in particular the performance of cardiac microdialysis in vivo. The work has three specific areas of interest in the laboratory involving: i) how inflammation and extracellular matrix loss contribute to LV remodeling, i) understanding chymase mediated Ang II formation in the heart, ii) how the cardiomyocyte mitochondria are both targets and sources of oxidative stress, iii) how chymase in mediates the cardiac dysfunction and volume overload heart failure in the human with isolated mitral regurgitation.

Education

• BA, Holy Cross College
• MD, Georgetown University

Research Interests

• Diagnosis and Treatment of Right Ventricular Myocardial Infarction (RVMI)
• Mechanisms of Chymase-Mediated Ang II formation in the Heart
• Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms of the Pure Volume Overload

Recent Publications

• Ahmed MI, Guichard JL, Rajasekaran NS, Ahmad S, Mariappan N, Litovsky S, Gupta H, Lloyd SG, Denney TS, Powell PC, Aban I, Collawn JF, Davies JE, McGiffin DC, Dell'Italia LJ. Disruption of desmin-mitochondrial architecture in patients with regurgitant mitral valves and preserved ventricular function. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2016;152(4):1059-1070, With accompanying editorial. PMID: 27464577 PMCID: PMC5199142
• Butts B, Ahmed MI, Powell PC, Pat B, Litofsky S, Gupta H, Lloyd SG, Denney TS, Zhang X, Aban I, Sadayappan S, McNamara J, Watson MJ, Ferrario CM, Collawn JF, Lewis C, Davies JE, Dell’Italia LJ. Left atrial emptying fraction and chymase activation in the pathophysiology of primary mitral regurgitation. J Am Coll Cardiol Basic Trans Sci 5(2):109-122, 2020.  PMID: 32140620 PMCID: PMC7046515.
• Zheng J, Wei CC, Hase N, Shi K, Killingsworth CR, Litovsky SH, Powell PC, Kobayashi T, Ferrario CM, Rab A, Aban I, Collawn JF, Dell'Italia LJ. Chymase mediates injury and mitochondrial damage in cardiomyocytes during acute ischemia/reperfusion in the dog. PLoS One 2014;9(4):e94732. PMID: 24733352; PMCID: PMC3986229.
• Powell PC, Wei CC, Fu L, Pat B, Bradley WE, Collawn JF, Dell'Italia LJ. Chymase uptake by cardiomyocytes results in myosin degradation in cardiac volume overload. Heliyon 2019;5(4):e01397. PMID: 30997426 PMCID: PMC6451194
• Fu L, Wei CC, Powell PC, Bradley WE, Ahmad S, Ferrario CM, Collawn JF, Dell'Italia LJ. Increased fibroblast chymase production mediates procollagen autophagic digestion in volume overload. J Mol Cell Cardiol 2016;92:1-9, with accompanying editorial. PMID: 26807691 PMCID: PMC5198899