Experimental Antiarrhythmic Targets: CaMKII Inhibition - Ready for Clinical Evaluation?

Abstract

In the recent years, Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) was suggested to be associated with cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure but also with arrhythmias both in animal models as well as in the human heart. This article focuses on the role of CaMKII for excitation-contraction coupling but more explicitly it highlights major CaMKII-dependent proarrhythmogenic mechanisms including SR Ca2+ leak and late Na+ current. Because a clinical significance of CaMKII is implied for both mechanisms, CaMKII inhibition is suggested to be a therapeutical approach in the near future.