Mount Sinai Finds Influenza-Heart Disease Connection

Researchers identify cellular mechanism linking influenza A viruses to cardiovascular disease, offer potential new therapy

Published on Feb. 9, 2026

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. ›

Mount Sinai researchers have identified a cellular mechanism linking infections from influenza A viruses (IAVs) to cardiovascular disease, providing critical insights on how influenza can damage the heart and increase the risk of a heart attack or other major cardiovascular event. The team also provided evidence that a cutting-edge modified mRNA treatment can significantly mitigate cardiac damage following viral infection.

Why it matters

The study sheds light on the underlying mechanisms behind the well-known phenomenon of increased heart attack frequency during flu season, offering hope for new therapies to prevent cardiac damage from influenza infections, which currently have no viable clinical options.

The details

The researchers studied autopsies of 35 hospitalized influenza patients who died and found over 85% had at least one significant cardiovascular comorbidity. They discovered that a subset of white blood cells, pro-dendritic cell 3, becomes infected in the lung, travels to the heart, and produces high levels of damaging type 1 interferon. This triggers cardiomyocyte death and impairs cardiac function. The team showed that a modified mRNA therapy targeting the interferon signaling pathway reduced cardiac damage and improved heart function in their experiments.

  • The study was published in the February 9, 2026 issue of Immunity.

The players

Filip Swirski

Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the senior author of the study.

Jeffrey Downey

A member of Dr. Swirski's laboratory who served as lead author of the study.

Lior Zangi

Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), and Genetics and Genomic Sciences, at the Icahn school of Medicine at Mount Sinai, collaborating on further research.

Mount Sinai Health System

New York City's largest academic medical system, encompassing seven hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices.

Got photos? Submit your photos here. ›

What they’re saying

“We have known for years that the frequency of heart attacks increases during flu season, yet outside of clinical intuition, scant evidence exists of the underlying mechanisms of that phenomenon.”

— Filip Swirski, Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Immunity)

“We found that the pro-dendritic cell 3 acts as the 'Trojan horse' of the immune system during influenza infection, becoming infected in the lung, trafficking the virus to the heart, and disseminating it to cardiomyocytes. This process causes production of the damaging type 1 interferon that comes with considerable collateral damage to the heart.”

— Jeffrey Downey, Lead author, member of Dr. Swirski's laboratory (Immunity)

What’s next

The research team is collaborating with Lior Zangi to investigate a safe and effective systemic delivery method of the modified mRNA therapeutic to the heart's muscle cells, instead of the direct injection method used in the proof-of-concept study. Additional work is focused on understanding why the pro-dendritic cell 3 is so susceptible to influenza and how its protective capacity could be harnessed to minimize heart damage.

The takeaway

This study provides critical insights into the cellular mechanisms linking influenza infections to cardiovascular disease, offering hope for the development of new therapies to prevent cardiac damage from the flu, which currently have no viable clinical options.