Re-purposing old medicines as a new way to prevent sudden cardiac death

Mechanism-targeting re-positioned drugs to fight arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy

Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), also known as ARVC, is a heart disorder that runs in families and can cause sudden disruptions to the heart’s rhythm and death – even in seemingly healthy young people. There is an urgent need for medicines that tackle the root causes of these fatal cardiac events, as none currently exist. Dr Angeliki Asimaki and her team believe that drugs already used to treat people with other conditions might have the potential to save lives from ACM. The team have identified a drug that completely stops all signs of ACM in heart cells in the lab, by blocking an enzyme called GSK3beta. The drug is too toxic to be used in humans, but it has uncovered important clues about the underlying biology of ACM. Now, in heart cells, the researchers will investigate different, more tolerable drugs with similar effects on the enzyme. They have also previously identified that inflammation might play an important role in ACM. In this project, they will test the effects of anti-inflammatory drugs in preventing and reversing ACM in cells in the lab. Discovering new uses for already approved drugs provides the fastest and most cost-effective way to take a treatment from the lab to the clinic. The team hope this project will quickly pave the way for a new treatment to combat dangerous ACM and save lives.