Treatment and diagnostics of several diseases, including the cardiac arrhythmia atrial fibrillation (AF), are only moderately effective. The Netherlands accounts for 344.000 AF patients and as current treatments are based on ‘one-size-fits-all’, they don’t prevent progression from recurrent intermittent episodes to permanent AF.
Our overall aim is to pilot a novel CIRCULAR research approach, that centralizes on patients experiences to provoke scientific breakthroughs on molecular and electrical root causes of AF, and societal breakthroughs by developing mechanism-based therapies. Hereto, CIRCULAR implements co-creation and a pipeline of aligned animal-free (human) model systems to bridge the gap between fundamental science and clinical validation.
During previous structured and productive interactions with patients, personal input on lead triggers and suppressors of AF have been identified. A selection of five leads are further exploited in co-production with researchers, patients and healthcare professionals to unravel how they affect molecular and electrical mechanisms, i.e. electropathology, and drive AF. Furthermore, molecular key modulators are explored to identify and develop personalized ‘lead-based’ diagnostics and therapeutics.
The CIRCULAR goals are:
I. CORRELATIONS – Utilize personal patient input on triggers and suppressors of AF and correlate these with AF outcomes.
II. MECHANISM – Uncover how triggers and suppressors of AF affect molecular mechanisms and drive electropathology in animal-free experimental AF model systems and identify diagnostic and drug targets.
III. TESTING – Test novel therapies in animal-free human model systems and patients with AF and develop automated AF-on-a-Chip device for high-throughput screening.
This transdisciplinary circular research project boosts a paradigm shift in AF research by fusing knowledge from patient to cell and back. This knowledge fuels mechanism-based diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to decrease the burden of cardiac arrythmias and AF specifically. The project will pilot this CIRCULAR research approach to inspire a change in other research fields related to bio-electrical organ dysfunction.
