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Heartbeat Protein Deficits Linked to Sudden Cardiac Deaths

Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN

If only the molecular mechanisms underpinning arrhythmias were better understood, it would be possible to develop more targeted drugs. To study these mechanisms, and hopefully direct research to more effective anti-arrhythmia drugs, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center decided to take a close look at a protein known as Pcp4, a known regulator of the heart’s rhythm. The researchers found that when Pcp4 is relatively scarce, as it is when expression of the Pcp4 gene is disrupted, ventricular arrhythmias may result.

The results of this investigation into Pcp4’s functions appeared October 8 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, in an article entitled, “PCP4 regulates Purkinje cell excitability and cardiac rhythmicity.” In this article, the researchers described how they were able to isolate cardiac Purkinje cells in a mouse model of cardiomyopathy and show that Pcp4 expression was down-regulated in the diseased hearts.

SOURCE

http://genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/heartbeat-protein-deficits-linked-to-sudden-cardiac-deaths/81250455/