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Updated: Aug 29, 2025

Isolation and Functional Characterization of Human Ventricular Cardiomyocytes from Fresh Surgical Samples
Published on: April 21, 2014
Ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: From bench to bedside
Hua Shen1, Shi-Yong Dong2, Ming-Shi Ren1,3
1Division of Adult Cardiac Surgery, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The Sixth Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
Insights
Identifying hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients at risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD) is crucial. Current risk scores are insufficient, necessitating novel molecular insights and personalized prevention strategies for ventricular arrhythmias.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Molecular Biology
- Genetics
Background:
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients face risks of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD).
- Current risk stratification algorithms by ACC/AHA and ESC have limitations in identifying high-risk early-stage HCM patients.
- SCD can occur unexpectedly, even in young, asymptomatic individuals, highlighting the need for new risk factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review molecular mechanisms underlying ventricular arrhythmias and SCD in HCM.
- To explore novel therapeutic targets and personalized prevention strategies for SCD in HCM.
Main Methods:
- Review of studies utilizing surgical specimens, transgenic animal models, and patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs).
- Analysis of molecular pathways including ion channel remodeling and calcium (Ca2+) homeostasis.
- Evaluation of current and emerging therapeutic interventions.
Main Results:
- Ion channel remodeling, Ca2+ dysregulation, and altered myofilament sensitivity contribute to arrhythmogenesis in HCM.
- These molecular changes can lead to altered action potential duration (APD), reentry, and triggered activities (EADs, DADs).
- Novel drugs targeting late sodium current and myosin show promise in preventing HCM-related arrhythmias.
Conclusions:
- Existing SCD risk scores are inadequate for early-stage HCM.
- Understanding molecular mechanisms is key to developing effective SCD prevention strategies.
- Personalized prevention combining genetic screening, hiPSC-CM testing, machine learning, and advanced ECG is essential for managing SCD risk in HCM.
Abstract:
Patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) mostly experience minimal symptoms throughout their lifetime, and some individuals have an increased risk of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD). How to identify patients with a higher risk of ventricular arrythmias and SCD is the priority in HCM research. The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) both recommend the use of risk algorithms to identify patients at high risk of ventricular arrhythmias, to be selected for implantation of implantable cardioverters/defibrillators (ICDs) for primary prevention of SCD, although major discrepancies exist. The present SCD risk scoring systems cannot accurately identify early-stage HCM patients with modest structural remodeling and mild disease manifestations. Unfortunately, SCD events could occur in young asymptomatic HCM patients and even as initial symptoms, prompting the determination of new risk factors for SCD. This review summarizes the studies based on patients' surgical specimens, transgenic animals, and patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to explore the possible molecular mechanism of ventricular arrhythmia and SCD. Ion channel remodeling, Ca2+ homeostasis abnormalities, and increased myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity may contribute to changes in action potential duration (APD), reentry circuit formation, and trigger activities, such as early aferdepolarization (EAD) or delayed afterdepolarization (DAD), leading to ventricular arrhythmia in HCM. Besides the ICD implantation, novel drugs represented by the late sodium current channel inhibitor and myosin inhibitor also shed light on the prevention of HCM-related arrhythmias. The ideal prevention strategy of SCD in early-stage HCM patients needs to be combined with gene screening, hiPSC-CM testing, machine learning, and advanced ECG studies, thus achieving individualized SCD prevention.
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