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American scientists reported on Wednesday what they called an important step that could prevent sudden deaths due to ventricular arrhythmia or abnormal heartbeat that usually occur during the early morning hours.
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U.S.-based scientists Xander Wehrens of Baylor College School of Medicine in Houston, Texas and Mukesh Jain of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio claimed they have pinpointed the molecular link that triggers such deadly heart attacks.
The duo's findings were published this week by the journal Nature, according to the Agence France Presse (AFP).
On their report, both Wehrens and Jain blamed a protein named Klf15 for the fatal incidents, which also happen during night times.
Medical experts noted that deaths attributed to such attacks have been rising at an alarming rate.
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The American research team is convinced that levels of Klf15 inside the body affect the circadian rhythm, which AFP said is the biological processes that vary within a 24-hour period.
Wehrens and Jain based their conclusion on experiments conducted on laboratory rodents, which were genetically engineered to develop high or low amounts of Klf15.
As a result, rodents with excessive or too fee Klf15 showed higher risk of arrythmias as compared to those with normal levels of the protein, the new research said.
"If there was too much Klf15 or none, the mice were at risk for developing the arrhythmia ... and it is the first example of a molecular mechanism for the circadian change in susceptibility to cardiac arrhythmias," Wehrens said in the report.
He further explained that Klf15 actually acts as a switch in the whole molecular cascade, in which it influences the behaviour of another protein, KChIP2.
KChIP2, Jain said, dictates the flow of potassium-generated electrical current that fuels the pumping pace of cardiac myocytes or heart muscles.
In the process, the more or less time that the heart's ventricle or pumping chamber deliver blood to flow through the body lead to irregular heart beat, raising the risk of a likely heart attack, the study said.
Their study, according to Wehrens and Jain, should prompt for more research works that would clear issues surrounding mysterious cardiac arrests that led to a number of deaths.
Hopefully, new drugs could be formulated for individuals who will be identified as high risks for such deadly attacks, Jain added.
