MMP2 and hydrops fetalis: Particularly, we evaluated the cardiac activity of MMP-2, a biomarker in patients with HF with a key role in cardiac remodelling [66] and the cardiac expression levels of CTGF, the main regulator of fibrosis during maladaptive ventricular remodeling and HF progression also acting as downstream messenger of GAL-3 [67, 68]; we then assessed the cardiac expression levels of p21 and p53, indicators of cardiac aging that mediate senescence in response to stressors [69], and γH2AX, a sensitive indicator of DNA damage and integrity of the repair mechanism [70].