PKP2 and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy: For example, ithas been established that the most common genetic causes of ARVD are mutationsin desmosome proteins, the basic elements of cell-cell adhesion structurespresent in the multilayered epithelium and the myocardium; e.g., the results ofa recently published study involving 577 patients in the U.S. (Johns Hopkinsregistry) and Danish ARVD registers showed that 80% of patients had a mutationin the PKP2 gene encoding plakophilin, one of the desmosomalproteins.