Mayo Clinic Researchers Discover Gene Mutations That "Ignore" Stress, Lead To Heart Failure

Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered genetic mutations in heart patients that make them vulnerable to heart failure because they produce an abnormal protein that can't decode stress messages from the body. Mayo researchers are the first to realize that these proteins do not recognize the stress alarm. As a result, they can't properly respond to cue adjustments within the heart that normally manage stress. These defects make the heart muscle susceptible to damage. The Mayo Clinic research team's report appears in the journal Nature Genetics, v. 36; no. 4, April 2004 (www.nature.com).

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