An enzyme makes the mouse heart prone to chronic cardiac insufficiency - if it is suppressed, the heart remains strong despite increased stress. Cardiologists at the Internal Medicine Clinic at Heidelberg University Hospital in cooperation with scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and Göttingen University Hospital have now explained this key mechanism in a mouse model and thus discovered a promising approach for the systematic prevention of chronic cardiac insufficiency. The study has now been published online before print in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.