POSTN and heart failure: Based on the inflammatory and fibrotic markers commonly observed in response to myocardial infarction and development of heart failure, we assessed the expression of mRNA for Tnfa, Il1b,Il6, Il18, Ccl2, Ccl3, Cxcl1, Cxcl2, Col1a1, Col3a1, Postn, and Tlr4 at 1 and 3 months (Figure 3A–X).