Three college researchers receive funds to conduct innovative research on single ventricle heart disease
Single ventricle heart disease is a rare congenital heart defect that alters the heart’s structure and function and prevents one of the heart’s lower chambers from fully developing. The American Heart Association and Additional Ventures are funding five teams of scientists to conduct innovative research to add to the body of scientific knowledge about this complex syndrome.
Researchers at The Ohio State University College of Medicine will lead two studies. Christopher Breuer, MD, director of tissue engineering in The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s new Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell-Based Therapies and director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH), and his team will study a complication of a single ventricle disease called Fontan-associated liver disease (FALD).
Mingtao Zhao, DVM, PhD, is an assistant professor of Pediatrics at the Ohio State College of Medicine and principal investigator in NCH’s Center for Cardiovascular Research. He is one of the multiple principal investigators on a team led by Isabelle Deschênes, PhD, professor and chair of physiology and cell biology at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Together, they study a new treatment for improving heart failure and heart rhythm defects in single ventricle patients. Their study, PULSE-SVA Network: Personalized Understanding from Linked Simulations & Electrophysiology in Single Ventricle Arrhythmia, will focus on arrhythmias in people living with single ventricle disease.
“We hope to better understand the electrical properties of the hearts of these patients and explore the potential of cardiac radiotherapy,” Dr. Deschênes says. “It is an honor to join this group of collaborative and dedicated teams to address gaps in knowledge and identify clinical targets that could make a meaningful difference in patients’ lives.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that about 1 in 15,000 babies born in the U.S. have single ventricle heart disease. It can often be diagnosed before birth but there are no known cures, and treatment calls for extensive intervention, including multiple surgeries beginning right after birth. Dr. Breuer says there exist similar issues for FALD.
“There is no known cause, and the only treatment for FALD requires liver transplantation which also causes additional serious health issues,” Dr. Breuer says.
The team’s study, Elucidation of the Mechanisms Underlying the Development and Progression of Fontan-Associated Liver Disease (FALD), will examine the basic mechanisms of FALD using animal models to determine how blood flow impacts the development and progression of the condition.
Researchers at the college make it their mission to address biomedical and health care discoveries to accelerate their translation into solutions. These projects will each address high-priority single ventricle-related research questions and contribute to foundational knowledge and scientific goals to move the needle in this underserved field.
