Circulation October 12, 2021 Issue Circulation on the Run

Please join author Milton Packer and Associate Editor Justin Ezekowitz as they discuss the Perspective "Heart Failure and a Preserved Ejection Fraction: A Side-by-Side Examination of the PARAGON-HF and EMPEROR-Preserved Trials."
Dr. Carolyn Lam:
Welcome to Circulation on the Run, your weekly podcast summary and backstage pass to the Journal and its editors. We're your co-hosts. I'm Dr. Carolyn Lam, Associate Editor from the National Heart Center.
Dr. Greg Hundley:
And I'm Dr. Greg Hundley, associate editor, director of the Pauley Heart Center at VCU Health in Richmond, Virginia.
Dr. Carolyn Lam:
Greg, it really is so great to be back with you chatting about the papers here in the Journal. Thank you for going solo and for just being the greatest partner on earth. Thank you for that. For everyone listening in, we are back with some gusto and especially with this feature discussion today. You are not going to want to miss it. We are talking to Dr. Milton Packer as well as Dr. Justin Ezekowitz. We are going to compare PARAGON and EMPEROR-Preserved trials in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. A really interesting discussion you're not going to want to miss, but now let's start with some papers in today's issue. I'd like to start, please.
Dr. Greg Hundley:
You bet.
Dr. Carolyn Lam:
Greg, you know the optimal duration of antiplatelet therapy in patients with high bleeding risk with or without oral anticoagulation after coronary stenting? Well, that still remains a question. Today's paper is a pre-specified subgroup analysis of the MASTER DAPT trial and reports on the outcomes of patients with or without an oral anticoagulation indication in this study.
Dr. Greg Hundley:
Right, Carolyn. Remind us. What was the MASTER DAPT trial? What did it test?
Dr. Carolyn Lam:
Ah. MASTER DAPT investigated an abbreviated or one-month versus a non-abbreviated or three to 12-month dual antiplatelet therapy and a stopping of antiplatelet therapy at six months strategy after coronary stenting in an all-comer population at high bleeding risk.
Dr. Greg Hundley:
Carolyn, what did this subgroup analysis of outcomes in patients with and without oral anticoagulation show?
Dr. Carolyn Lam:
At 12 months of follow-up, ischemic and net risk did not differ with abbreviated versus non-abbreviated anti-platelet regimens in both subgroups, although significantly fewer clinically relevant bleeding events occurred in the group without an oral anticoagulation indication. Whereas only numerically fewer bleeding events occurred in the group with an oral anticoagulation indication that did not reach statistical significance. This subgroup analysis from the MASTER DAPT trial really adds additional evidence that dual antiplatelet therapy beyond one month in patients with or without an indication for oral anticoagulation really has no benefit and only increases bleeding risk.
Dr. Greg Hundley:
Oh, very important finding, Carolyn. Great research. Well, Carolyn, how the extracellular matrix microenvironment modulates the contractile phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells and confers vascular homeostasis really remains elusive. Thus, these investigators led by Professor Wei Kong at Peking University applied protein-protein interaction network analysis to explore novel extracellular matrix proteins associated with the vascular smooth muscle cell phenotype.
Dr. Carolyn Lam:
Huh. Interesting. What did they find, Greg?
Dr. Greg Hundley:
Right, Carolyn. By combining an in-vitro and an in-vivo genetic mice vascular injury model, they identified nidogen-2, a basement membrane glycoprotein, as a key extracellular matrix protein for maintenance of vascular smooth muscle cell identity. Nidogen-2 exerted its protective function via direct interaction and modulation of Jagged1-Notch3 signaling.
Dr. Carolyn Lam:
Wow! Nidogen-2 and Jagged1-Notch3. I always learn so much. What are the clinical implications, Greg?
Dr. Greg Hundley:
Right, Carolyn.