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Heart failure

A SHIFT from ion channels to clinical practice

The 'funny' current (If) has been the subject of 30 years of laboratory research and is an important therapeutic target in heart disease owing to its effects on heart rate. SHIFT, a trial in patients with all-cause heart failure, shows that If inhibition reduces combined mortality and rate of hospitalization and opens further avenues of research and therapeutic challenges.

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Figure 1: 30 years of research in pacemaker (If) channel physiology have led to substantial translation into clinical practice.

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Correspondence to Magdi H. Yacoub.

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Terracciano, C., Yacoub, M. A SHIFT from ion channels to clinical practice. Nat Rev Cardiol 7, 669–670 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrcardio.2010.179

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