Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia affecting 5% of the population older than 65 years and 9% of the octogenarians. While treatment remains deficient with frequent re-incidence after treatment, recent research point to altered membrane receptor signaling and defective calcium homeostasis as key contributors to induction of this arrhythmia. By employing state-of-the-art techniques such as optogenetics, photopharmacology, patch-clamp, and live cell imaging we aim to develop new molecular tools to explore the usefulness of adenosine receptors as biomarkers and more importantly as targets for pharmacotherapy. Subsequently, novel compounds will be tested in isolated human atrial myocytes and in an AF animal model in order to increase translation of the research to a clinical setting. This project is performed in collaboration with Leif Hove-Madsen (Cardiovascular Research Centre CSIC-ICCC and IIB-Sant Pau, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, St Antoni Mª Claret 167, Barcelona 08025, Spain)
Additional reading:
Adenosine A2A Receptors Are Upregulated in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from Atrial Fibrillation Patients. (2021) Godoy-Marín, H., Duroux, R., Jacobson, K.A., Soler, C., Colino, H., Jiménez-Sábado, V., Montiel, J., Hove-Madsen, L. & Ciruela, F. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 22 (7), 3467.
Influence of sex on intracellular calcium homeostasis in patients with atrial fibrillation (2021) Herraiz-Martínez, A., Tarifa, C., Jiménez-Sábado, V., Llach, A., Godoy-Marín, H., Colino, H., Nolla-Colomer, C., Casabella, S., Izquierdo-Castro, P., Benítez, I., Benítez, R., Rosselló-Díez, E., Rodríguez-Font, E., Viñolas, X., Ciruela, F., Cinca, J. & Hove-Madsen, L. Cardiovascular Research (In Press)