MAPK3 and cardiac hypertrophy: However, several partially contradictory studies have indicated that ERK1/2 can lead not only to maladaptive cardiac hypertrophy (Lorenz et al., 2009; Tomasovic et al., 2020), but also physiological hypertrophy (Bueno et al., 2000; Mutlak et al., 2018), and some studies have also suggested that it has no effect on cardiac hypertrophy (Purcell et al., 2007).