Pericardial fluid microRNAs in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy or ischemic heart disease

Pericardial fluid is enriched by biologically active molecules of cardiovascular origin including microRNAs. Investigation of the disease-specific extracellular microRNAs could shed light on the molecular processes underlying disease development. Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is an inherited heart disease characterized by life-threatening arrhythmias and progressive heart failure development. The current data about the association between microRNAs and ARVC development are limited. We performed small RNA sequence analysis of microRNAs of pericardial fluid samples obtained during transcutaneous epicardial access for ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation of six patients with definite ARVC and three post-infarction VT patients. Disease-associated microRNAs of pericardial fluid were identified. Enrichment analysis of differentially expressed microRNAs revealed their close linkage to cardiac diseases. Overall design: Pericardial fluid microRNA profiling from patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy or ischemic heart disease (control group)