Prestigious AHA award
On behalf of the American Heart Association, Aida Llucià-Valldeperas has been chosen as a 2026 Paul Dudley White International Scholar for her abstract submitted to BCVS 2026. This distinction recognizes the highest‑ranked international abstracts and highlights outstanding cardiovascular research conducted outside the United States.
Focus on pulmonary hypertension
Llucià-Valldeperas works on hereditary pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), which is a rare, life‑threatening disease that starts in the lungs but ultimately leads to right heart failure. In about 70% of hereditary PAH patients, mutations in the BMPR2 gene are the main genetic cause and have been linked to worse right ventricular (RV) function, although the mechanisms were previously unclear.
Altered contractility and gene programs
To investigate this, Llucià-Valldeperas and her colleagues generated induced pluripotent stem cell–derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC‑CMs) from PAH patients carrying a BMPR2 mutation and from isogenic controls in which the mutation was corrected. They studied these ventricular cardiomyocytes using RNA sequencing and high‑throughput functional assays to assessed contractility and gene expression profiles. BMPR2‑mutant cardiomyocytes showed increased beating frequency and greater contractile force compared with controls, alongside changes in contraction dynamics.
Impaired adaptation to stress
The findings suggest that BMPR2 mutations disrupt the heart’s adaptive response to mechanical stress, leading to a state of homeostatic insufficiency and potentially contributing to RV maladaptation in PAH. The work underscores the need for further mechanistic studies to identify novel therapeutic targets aimed at improving RV function in hereditary PAH.
The AHA's Basic Cardiovascular Sciences (BCVS) 2026 Scientific Sessions takes place from July 13–16, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information on the program, click here.