Scots scientists in heart failure breakthrough

SCOTTISH researchers may have found a way of reversing the effects of heart failure.

A team at Glasgow University have been working with colleagues in Italy to identify an enzyme in the body that could be targeted with new drugs.

They believe such a treatment could be available to patients in as little as five years.

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Congestive heart failure - one of Scotland's most common health problems - happens when the heart is unable to pump enough oxygen and nutrients around the body. It is linked to smoking, obesity and other lifestyle factors.

Symptoms include a shortage of breath, coughing, inability to exercise and a build-up of fluids in the body.

Researchers from the University of Glasgow and the University of Turin focused on how enzymes in the body play a role in heart failure and the effect it has on the body.

They identified one enzyme - PI-3 kinase - which had a vital effect on heart failure. The researchers believe by using drugs to control the activity of the enzyme, heart disease symptoms could be reversed.

Dr George Baillie, from the Institute of Neurosciences and Psychology, said: "When we exercise, the increase in oxygen required by our muscles is facilitated by increased blood flow that results from an increased heart rate.

"Heart rate is controlled by the stress hormone adrenaline which binds to receptors on the surface of the heart cells, making the heart beat faster and stronger.

"However, failing hearts can't contract properly so they won't pump enough blood through your body to keep you fit and well."

Receptors are found on the surface of cells and when adrenaline binds with these receptors on heart cells it is able to send a signal telling the heart how fast to beat.

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But in people with heart failure, the heart is unable to contract properly due to a reduction in the number of receptors on the heart cells caused by too much PI-3 kinase circulating in the body.

The researchers found that by reducing the activity of the PI-3 kinase in mice, the adrenaline receptors remained at a normal level and allowed the heart to function properly.

The study, published in the journal Molecular Cell, used Glasgow's world-leading expertise in being able to examine the interaction of proteins in the body at a molecular level.

The researchers said their discovery offered a new way of treating heart failure by developing new drugs or using existing ones.

Treatments which inhibit the PI-3 kinase enzyme are already in clinical trials to see if they would work in cancer patients.

Baillie said: "Drugs aimed at this specific enzyme have already been developed but they have not been used for this condition.

"So this research paves the way for new or existing drugs to be developed for congestive heart failure in the next five to ten years."

Around 750,000 people in the UK are affected by heart failure, but thanks to advances in patient care more are able to survive.

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Figures for Scotland show that in 2010, 85.5 per cent of patients with heart failure admitted as emergencies to hospital survived for at least 30 days. This compared with 82.4 per cent in 2001.

Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the BHF, welcomed the research.

But he added: "It remains to be seen whether drugs that ‘correct' the way adrenaline signals to cells can help patients whose hearts are failing because of the damaged caused by a heart attack."

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