Building the future of cardiac fibrosis treatment

Cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of death worldwide. While existing therapies manage symptoms and aim to preserve heart function, they target only a narrow set of biological pathways discovered decades ago. Many forms of cardiovascular disease (CVD), especially those involving cardiac fibrosis, are still without effective treatment.

Cardiac fibrosis – a buildup of scar tissue that impairs heart function – plays a central role in disease progression. Yet, there are no approved treatments that directly target fibrosis, and early detection remains difficult due to the lack of robust biomarkers and models. The FibroCard project sets out to change that.

“Fibrosis plays a prominent role in cardiac disease, but a key challenge in developing anti-fibrotic drugs is the lack of translational disease models and tools to track fibrosis dynamics,” says Bo Hjorth Bentzen, Head of the FibroCard project.

The FibroCard team will develop a cutting-edge drug screening platform to test anti-fibrotic compounds and identify biomarkers that reflect disease progression. The platform will integrate data and models from both pigs, human cardiac tissue, and advanced 3D cellular systems.

In the short term, the project will:

• Apply a validated pig model of cardiac fibrosis
• Establish 3D cell models using both pig and human cells
• Map fibrosis progression using advanced transcriptomic technologies
• Validate extracellular matrix (ECM) biomarkers linked to fibrosis

This approach enables close tracking of fibrosis as it develops and responds to treatment. Currently, there is no other system, which fully allows this.

“Understanding the association between soluble fibrosis biomarkers, in vivo fibrosis imaging, and histological assessments is of great importance. Understanding these dynamic processes and their evolution during fibrosis development will significantly aid future drug development,” says Kate Herum from Novo Nordisk, a company partner in FibroCard.

The long-term ambition of the FibroCard project is to create a validated and openly available platform that not only supports drug screening but also drives new discoveries. This will benefit both the scientific community and patients by accelerating the development of new treatments.

“The FirboCard project represents a great opportunity for us to gain further biological validation of our biomarkers and learn more about the dynamics of cardiac fibrosis,” explains Federica Genovese, company partner from Nordic Bioscience.

Bo Hjort Bentzen and his academic project partner Thomas Jespersen highlight, that the collaboration across the industry-academia divide is important for the success of the FirbroCard project:

“Cardiac fibrosis is not trivial, but working together with experts from both academia and industry I am sure we will make great discoveries that will benefit us all, and others,” says Thomas Jespersen, and Bo Hjort Bentzen continues: “Teaming up with experts from Nordic Bioscience and Novo Nordisk is what we need to develop such models, and gain more insights into the mechanisms of cardiac fibrosis.”

• Bo Hjorth Bentzen (University of Copenhagen)
  Project lead Bo Hjort Bentzen is an expert in cardiac physiology, fibrosis, and fibroblast assays. His lab will host key in vitro studies and fibroblast function tests.
• Thomas Jespersen (University of Copenhagen)
  Thomas Jespersen brings deep knowledge of cardiac pathophysiology and advanced pig models of heart disease to the project. He also mentors the project’s postdocs to support their development as independent researchers.
• Helena Dominquez (University of Copenhagen)
  Providing clinical linkage, Helena Dominquez secures access to human cardiac tissue through Rigshospitalet. Her participation ensures the translational value of the platform.
• Kate Herum (Novo Nordisk)
  With her team, Kate Herum supports transcriptomic data analysis, strengthening the platform’s molecular foundation. She also designs in vitro validation studies and facilitates training in 3D organoid cultures.
• Federica Genovese (Nordic Bioscience)
  A leader in extracellular matrix (ECM) biomarker science, Federica Genovese provides quantitative assessments of ECM biomarkers from lab samples and helps train researchers in assay methods.

By combining clinically relevant models with advanced molecular tools and expertise from both academia and industry, the FibroCard team aims to develop a robust and translational platform for studying cardiac fibrosis. The shared effort will hopefully contribute to a deeper understanding of fibrosis biology and support the development of new approaches for identifying and evaluating anti-fibrotic treatments.

You can read more about the FibroCard project here