CASP9 and familial dilated cardiomyopathy: Compared to the control group, DCM group exhibited significantly enhanced protein expression levels of p-PERK, Nrf2, p-IRE1α, ATF6, CHOP, cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-9, cleaved caspase-12, and BAX, while H19 reversed the up-regulation of these protein levels in cardiac tissues (Figure 4A).