Abstract: Cardiac fibrosis is a pathological process that presents a continuous overproduction of extracellular matrix (ECM) components in the myocardium, which negatively influences the progression of many cardiac diseases. Transforming growth factor ? (TGF?) is the main ligand that triggers the production of pro-fibrotic ECM proteins. In the cardiac fibrotic process, TGF? and its canonical signaling mediators are tightly regulated at different levels as well as epigenetically. Cardiac fibroblasts are one of the most important TGF? target cells activated after cardiac injury. TGF?-driven fibroblast activation is subject to epigenetic modulation and contributes to the progression of cardiac fibrosis, mainly through the expression of pro-fibrotic molecules implicated in the disease. In this review, we describe epigenetic regulation related to canonical TGF? signaling in cardiac fibroblasts.

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