EXPRESSION OF CONNEXIN-40 AND INTERLEUKIN 6 GENES IN PATIENTS WITH ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the outcome of the rapid onset of abnormal electrical impulses in the atria. These impulses prevent the heart natural pacemaker, which normally controls the heart beat, from doing its job.The heart rate becomes highly asymmetric. The purpose of this case-control study was to determine the role of the connexin-40 (Cx-40) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) gene expression in patients suffering from AF in Pakistan. There were 200 subjects included in this study. The subjects were categorized into two groups as control and AF groups (n=100 each). RNA separated from blood was used for analysis of the Cx-40 and IL-6 gene expression by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The Cx-40 gene expression profile was increased 10.2-fold in AF subjects as compared to 1.9-fold in control group. The IL-6 gene expression profile was decreased 1.5-fold in AF group as compared to 6.1-fold in control group. Results of the study suggest that development of AF in the Pakistani population was linked to the increased expression of Cx-40 gene and lower expression of IL-6 gene.