Protein With Cardioprotective Capabilities During Heart Attack Discovered

	Tweet

University of Cincinnati researchers have discovered a new protein that could be cardioprotective during heart attack, potentially leading to more targeted treatments for patients at risk.

These findings are being presented at the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Scientific Sessions in Chicago Nov. 16.

Researchers in the department of pharmacology and cell biophysics, led by Wen Zhao, PhD, and Chi Keung Lam, a PhD student, under the direction of Litsa Kranias, PhD, AHA distinguished scientist and chair of the department, found that HAX-1, an anti-cell death protein, plays an important role in protecting cardiac cells and muscle during ischemia-reperfusion injury, or damage to tissue caused by blood restriction. 

"Multiple cell death pathways are activated during heart attack, resulting in cell death and reduced cardiac function,” Lam says. “HAX-1 has been reported to have involvement in different cell death mechanisms.

“We found that HAX-1 protein levels were reduced in hearts after ischemia-reperfusion injury.”

In this study, researchers created animal models with cardiac-specific, over-produced HAX-1 by twofold and then experimentally induced heart attack.

“The hearts of these animal models showed improved contractile performance after heart attack-related injury and decreased cell death,” Zhao says. “The protective effect was associated with decreased activities of caspases three and nine. Caspases are a family of proteins that are one of the main executors of the cell-death process.”

Zhao also found that mitochondria isolated from HAX-1 in the hearts of these models were resistant to swelling and to permeability transition (MPT), or decrease in the permeability of the mitochondrial membranes by calcium.

Lam adds that hearts of these models also had reduced stress response in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), or the interconnected network within cells that synthesizes proteins, following injury.

“These findings suggest the unique cardioprotective potential of HAX-1 in ischemia-reperfusion injury,” Zhao says. “The discoveries could lead to targeted treatments at the cellular level for patients who are at risk for heart attack and prevent cell and tissue death from ever occurring.”

This study was funded by an AHA pre-doctoral fellowship grant, the National Institutes of Health and the Leducq Foundation.

###

Publish Date:  11/16/10
Media Contact: Katie Pence, (513) 558-4561

RELATED STORIES:
Scientists turn skin cells into beating heart muscle   Too many people get angioplasties, study suggests   New Blood Thinner May Lower Chances of Clots in High-Risk Heart Patients: FDA   Heart Damage After Chemo Linked to Stress in Cardiac Cells   What’s good or bad for the heart, may be the same for the brain   Warfarin in Heart Failure   Increased Sudden Cardiac Death Rate Among HIV Patients   Air pollution level changes in Beijing linked with biomarkers of cardiovascular disease   Lack of basic evidence hampering prevention of sudden heart attacks in sport   Blacks Less Likely to Get Help on Scene After Cardiac Arrest: Study   Heart attack patients taken to PCI hospitals first treated faster   Cameron Health’s under-skin ICD safe, effective

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]