New directions for protecting the heart against ischaemia–reperfusion injury: targeting the Reperfusion Injury Salvage Kinase (RISK)-pathway

Reperfusion is a pre-requisite to salvaging viable myocardium, following an acute myocardial infarction. Reperfusion of ischaemic myocardium, however, is not without risk, as the act of reperfusion itself can paradoxically result in myocyte death: a phenomenon termed lethal reperfusion-induced injury. Therapeutic strategies that target and attenuate reperfusion-induced cell death may provide novel pharmacological agents, which can be used as an...