(dailyRx)
A multiple sclerosis drug may work double duty. It has been shown in a lab study to prevent and even reverse one of the leading causes of heart attack.
Gilenya (fingolimod), which was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat MS, also appears to reverse symptoms of ventricular hypertrophy in mice, a potentially fatal heart disorder.
Dr. Xin Wang, a study co-author and a lecturer in molecular cardiology at the University of Manchester, noted that his team’s research had previously identified the effect of Pak1, an enzyme molecule that naturally occurs in human bodies, in preventing tissue damage by reduced blood flow to the heart.
The latest study used mice with a genetic modification to the Pak1 gene to show how the enzyme prevents and reverses signs of ventricular hypertrophy when stimulated with Gilenya.
Ventricular hypertrophy can result in an abnormal heart rhythm, heart failure and cardiac arrest. It is caused by sustained pressure on the heart from stress or disease, such as hypertension, valvular heart disease or heart attack.
“In recent years, escalating costs, risks, and uncertainty associated with drug development for treating cardiovascular diseases have posed daunting challenges to the pharmaceutical industry. Our discovery opens up fresh avenues for developing a new class of drug for treating several fatal heart conditions,” said Dr. Ming Lei, a study leader from the University of Manchester.
“The novel effect of this existing drug means that we have the potential to accelerate the availability of a new therapy for patients with these heart conditions.”
The pre-clinical study, funded by the British Heart Foundation and the Medical Research Council, was recently published in American Heart Association journal Circulation.
Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and in the rest of the world. Estimates point to almost one half of all middle aged men and one third of all middle aged women in the United States developing some form of CAD. The primary symptom of angina, commonly known as chest pain, occurs when the artery is almost completely blocked.
Plaques made up of cholesterol and fibrous tissue lodge in the walls of the arteries that supply blood to the heart. Slow growth of the plaques can cause chest pain as they restrict blood flow to the heart muscle, and complete closure or rupture of the plaque can cause a myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack, with resulting disability or death. CAD is primarily a disease of diet and habits, with the greatest risk factors coming from smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.