A New Therapeutic Target for One of Cardiology's Most…

A New Therapeutic Target for One of Cardiology's Most Dangerous Genetic Conditions Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy is a genetic heart condition that carries a frightening reputation. It significantly raises the risk of dangerous heart rhythm disturbances and sudden cardiac death, often in young people and athletes who appeared perfectly healthy. A new study published in Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology may have identified a previously unrecognised mechanism driving this disease — and a potential new way to treat it. In more than half of patients with this condition, the cause traces back to mutations in genes responsible for desmosomes — the structures that hold heart muscle cells firmly together. The most common culprit is a gene called PKP2. Loss of healthy PKP2 function is known to reduce the heart's sodium current, the electrical signal that allows heart muscle cells to coordinate their contractions. Using both mouse models