Genetic animal models offer new insight

Latest research findings from Rhode Island Hospital could provide a springboard for the development of gene therapies to treat arrythmias.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, provided further insight into the molecular mechanisms that lead to arrythmia and its connection with sudden cardiac death.

Senior author Dr Gideon Koren, director of the cardiovascular research center at Rhode Island Hospital and a professor of medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, said: "We are still struggling to understand why arrhythmia causes sudden cardiac death in some patients, but not others, and what underlying molecular mechanisms or abnormalities may be at play."

The researchers engineered animal models of two of the most common genetic forms of long QT syndrome (LQTS) in humans.

Dr Gideon added that while results from animal models are not always applicable to humans, the findings serve as a first step towards gaining better understanding of arrythmias' function in causing sudden cardiac death.