When compared to mRNA isolated from healthy hearts, Mdm2 gene expression was significantly decreased in samples from patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), ischemic cardiomyopathy and chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy (P < 0.05) (Fig 1), suggesting a correlation between Mdm2 expression and end-stage HF of these etiologies. Here, MDM2 is linked to familial dilated cardiomyopathy.