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Heart regeneration

A glucocorticoid brake that unlocks cardiac regeneration via glucocorticoid receptor antagonization

Nature Cardiovascular Research (2026)Cite this article

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Systemic glucocorticoids actively suppress the intrinsic regenerative capacity of the heart by enforcing a molecular brake on growth factor signaling. A study now shows that transient antagonism of glucocorticoid receptor signaling can lift this restriction and synergize with regenerative cues to restore cardiac repair in vivo.

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Fig. 1: The GC brake on cardiac regeneration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Emirhan Celik & Richard T. Lee

  2. Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s, Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Richard T. Lee

Authors
  1. Emirhan Celik
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  2. Richard T. Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard T. Lee.

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Competing interests

R.T.L. is a cofounder of NanoRhythmics, LLC, and has received research support in the past from Somalogic, Inc., BlueRock Therapeutics and Elevian, Inc. E.C. declares no competing interests.

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Celik, E., Lee, R.T. A glucocorticoid brake that unlocks cardiac regeneration via glucocorticoid receptor antagonization. Nat Cardiovasc Res (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44161-026-00777-8

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