Sudden Cardiac Arrest syndrome (SCA) is poorly understood, but it's a real danger for the otherwise young and healthy.

For no apparent reason, the heart suddenly stops beating, and without treatment death may follow within minutes.

Dr. Joel Hirsch of Tel Aviv University's Department of Biochemistry has teamed up with Prof. Bernard Attali of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine Department of Physiology and Pharmacology to investigate the cause and effects of the fatal syndrome. Not the same as a heart attack - in which heart muscles continue to pump, however erratically - SCA normally occurs with no warning.

This team is hot on the trail of understanding how a multi-gene syndrome, one of the causes for SCA, operates inside the body. Once they figure out how the disorder operates and describe its molecular system in detail, they hope to develop a drug or therapy to stop this condition before it strikes.

Solving the mystery of sudden death

"SCA is not as uncommon as most people think," Dr. Hirsch says. "It may explain a lot of mysterious occurrences in which people, even very young people, drop dead for no apparent reason. Doctors have started screening athletes for this condition, which can be exaggerated under physical exertion. Our research into the biological mechanisms of SCA can add to the toolbox of diagnostic possibilities - and we hope that it will help science find a new drug to treat it.

"We are looking specifically at channels that allow certain electrical ions to pass through membranes, and the mutated ones that do not. If we can understand the molecular signalling required to keeping the heart pumping regularly, we might be able to design a drug to help cure the disease before it strikes," says Dr. Hirsch.

Source: Tel Aviv University