This research is funded by the North Shore Heart Research Foundation
Title: Candidate genes for tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy
Investigators: Dr Michael Ward, Dr Gemma Figtree, Associate Professor Chris Samsarian
Funded since 2008
Overview
Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) is a common but poorly understood condition in which patients present with chest pain and ECG abnormalities suggestive of acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) after a significant emotional or physical stressor. The mechanisms probably relate to neurally mediated microvascular spasm. Of interest, the phenomenon is more common in women, and this has been linked to the effects of estrogen on adrenergic responsiveness.
This study aims to identify genetic variants in estrogen and adrenergic signalling pathways that may alter vasomotor response to stress. This work may assist not only in our understanding of TTC, but also the regulation of the coronary microcirculation and its response to stress.
Report to 30 June 2009
We gained local and national ethics approval for the project in 2008, with local ethics approval at Royal North Shore and Royal Prince Alfred hospitals (Sydney) and Box Hill Hospital (Melbourne). In 2009 Queen Elizabeth II Hospital (Adelaide) came on board, and has supplied approximately 15 patients.
Disappointingly, despite ethics approval nationally, the local approvals have still not been obtained for several sites that had promised patients, including Austin Hospital (Melbourne), Prince of Wales Hospital (Sydney) and St Andrews Medical Centre (Brisbane).
We plan to use the upcoming Cardiac Society meeting to get together the multiple centres, to encourage recruitment and explore further projects from the burgeoning database.
Our Royal North Shore database contains 101 patients, and we have taken blood from around 50. In addition we have blood from 10 Royal Prince Alfred Hospital patients and 15 Queen Elizabeth II Hospital patients.
From the first batch we have successfully analysed DNA for the five polymorphisms. However it is too early to perform any statistical analysis.
We hope to complete the project within the next 12 months, with a view to publishing any significant results.
