What tips the balance to cause inflammation in atrial fibrillation?

New kids on the block: mapping CD4+ T lymphocytes in atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common form of irregular heart rhythm, affecting more than a million people in the UK. AF interferes with the pumping action of the heart in a way that makes blood clots more likely to form, which can cause a stroke. Current treatments include blood-thinning agents to combat this, but we urgently need to understand how AF develops, so that new medicines can be created to prevent or cure the condition. Inflammation is important in the development of several heart conditions, and has recently been implicated in AF. Dr Dumitriu has shown that, in people with AF, the healthy balance of immune cells known as T lymphocytes is disturbed. There is a subset of T lymphocytes that is inflammatory, and a subset that is protective. People with AF have more of the kind that promote inflammation, and fewer of the kind that prevent it. In this project Dr Dumitriu will examine this inflammatory imbalance further using blood samples from 150 study volunteers who have AF. The blood samples will be analysed to try to uncover what causes the balance to shift. The goal is to identify ways that the balance of immune cells can be protected or restored with medicines, to prevent or cure AF.