CCN2 and familial dilated cardiomyopathy: As shown in Figure 4(b), the expression levels of Col3al (p < 0.01), Ccn2 (p < 0.001), Acta2 (encoding the protein α-SMA) (p < 0.001), and Tgf-β1 (p < 0.001) genes increased in the DCM group compared to those in the control group.