A cardiac arrhythmia doesn’t discriminate.
Heart disease is the number-one killer of Americans and the number-one cause of death for Ohioans.
During heart failure, or a cardiac arrhythmia, the electrical system in the heart may malfunction. Too often, this malfunction may result in syncope (fainting) or even death.
One Ohio State research team strives to understand the molecular basis of how arrhythmias occur and ways to predict their occurrences. Dr. Peter Mohler, PhD, director of the Dorothy M. Davis Hearth and Lung Research Institute, chair of the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, and associate dean for Basic Research at the OSU College of Medicine, was recently awarded a $1,540,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health. Mohler and his team will use the funding over a five-year period to study a class of molecules in the heart, called channels, which regulate the movement of ions across the cell membrane. The group has determined that genetic defects in these channels or associated molecules underlie human atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. The work will translate findings from patients with disease, to animal models, and ultimately back to the clinic.
Unlike many human diseases, the first symptom of a cardiac arrhythmia may be sudden cardiac death. Thus, it is critical to define disease pathways to improve diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
In fact, Mohler and his team don’t want to miss a beat.
He and his team’s ultimate research goal is to define new causes and treatments of undefined cardiac arrhythmias. Mohler’s research group has already made progress in identifying new molecules that play a role in the disease. They have an overarching hope of understanding why mutations in those molecules cause arrhythmia.
“The cool part about our research is that the findings may have immediate impact for kids and young adults with a family history of arrhythmia. We can work with physicians here at the Ross Heart Hospital as well as electrophysiologists throughout the world to impact patient care,” says Mohler. “In many cases, research findings from our students and fellows can be utilized to treat disease before it even happens.”
Mohler and his team’s research will benefit people of all ages around the globe.
“When you see a disease that affects kids in central Ohio and throughout the world, it’s really easy to get people involved. We are successful because of our team at Ohio State. We are successful because all of us—the students, fellows, technicians, physicians, genetic counselors, nurses, pharmacists, and faculty—share a common goal for discovery. To see something that nobody has seen before,” notes Mohler.