International Journal of Molecular Sciences Review Linking LOXL2 to Cardiac Interstitial Fibrosis Melisse Erasmus 1,2 , Ebrahim Samodien 1 , Sandrine Lecour 3 , Martin Cour 4 , Oscar Lorenzo 5,6 , Phiwayinkosi Dludla 1 , Carmen Pheiffer 1,2 and Rabia Johnson 1,2,* 1 Biomedical Research and Innovation Platform, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town 7501, South Africa;
[email protected] (M.E.);
[email protected] (E.S.);
[email protected] (P.D.); carmen.pheiff
[email protected] (C.P.) 2 Department of Medical Physiology, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town 7505, South Africa 3 Hatter Institute for Cardiovascular Research in Africa (HICRA), University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7925, South Africa;
[email protected] 4 Hospices Civils de Lyon, Hôpital Edouard Herriot, Service de Médecine Intensive-Réanimation, Place d’Arsonval, 69437 Lyon, France;
[email protected] 5 Institute de Investigación Sanitaria-FJD, Faculty of Medicine, University Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain;
[email protected] 6 Spanish Biomedical Research Centre in Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Disorders (CIBERDEM) Network, 28040 Madrid, Spain * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 8 July 2020; Accepted: 29 July 2020; Published: 18 August 2020 Abstract: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading causes of death worldwide. CVD pathophysiology is often characterized by increased stiffening of the heart muscle due to fibrosis, thus resulting in diminished cardiac function. Fibrosis can be caused by increased oxidative stress and inflammation, which is strongly linked to lifestyle and environmental factors such as diet, smoking, hyperglycemia, and hypertension. These factors can affect gene expression through epigenetic modifications.