Growing new arteries could lead to ‘biological bypass’ for heart disease
March 9th, 2010 - 1:17 pm ICT by ANIWashington, March 9 (ANI): Yale School of Medicine researchers say they have found a new method of growing arteries that could lead to a ‘biological bypass’-or a non-invasive way to treat coronary artery disease.
Coronary arteries can become blocked with plaque, leading to a decrease in the supply of blood and oxygen to the heart. Over time this blockage can lead to debilitating chest pain or heart attack. Severe blockages in multiple major vessels may require coronary artery bypass graft surgery, a major invasive surgery.
“Successfully growing new arteries could provide a biological option for patients facing bypass surgery,” said lead author of the study Michael Simons, chief of the Section of Cardiology at Yale School of Medicine.
In the past, researchers used growth factors-proteins that stimulate the growth of cells-to grow new arteries, but this method was unsuccessful.
Simons and his team studied mice and zebrafish to see if they could simulate arterial formation by switching on and off two signaling pathways-ERK1/2 and P13K.
“We found that there is a cross-talk between the two signaling pathways. One half of the signaling pathway inhibits the other. When we inhibit this mechanism, we are able to grow arteries. Instead of using growth factors, we stopped the inhibitor mechanism by using a drug that targets a particular enzyme called P13-kinase inhibitor,” said Simons.
“Because we’ve located this inhibitory pathway, it opens the possibility of developing a new class of medication to grow new arteries. The next step is to test this finding in a human clinical trial,” Simons added.
The new research has been described in the April issue of Journal of Clinical Investigation. (ANI)
- Growing arteries could lead to 'biological bypass' - Mar 09, 2010
- Why booze might be good for your heart - Nov 19, 2010
- New path discovered for colon cancer drug discovery - Nov 20, 2010
- Major advance in fight against autoimmune diseases and allergies - Apr 24, 2011
- Trial underway to test whether surgery is best option for type 2 diabetes - Feb 11, 2011
- MRI scan 'better' than invasive tests for heart patients - Dec 23, 2011
- New angiography technique a boon for many - Feb 03, 2012
- PM undergoes routine health checkup at AIIMS - Jan 31, 2010
- Small molecules 'could block cell proliferation in cancerous human tumor' - Apr 14, 2011
- New way to halt expansion of breast cancer stem cells discovered - Nov 24, 2010
- Lasers to treat human heart after attack - Aug 12, 2011
- Cancer 'roadmap' could help fight resistance to targeted drug therapies - Mar 26, 2011
- Zebrafish offers skin cancer clues - Apr 06, 2011
- Doctors perform bypass surgery on 20-month-old boy - May 29, 2009
- Novel method might help block for tumour growth - Mar 15, 2011
Tags: artery bypass graft surgery, blockages, bypass graft surgery, bypass surgery, chest pain, coronary arteries, coronary artery bypass, coronary artery bypass graft, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, coronary artery disease, cross talk, growth factors, heart attack, invasive surgery, journal of clinical investigation, school of medicine, signaling pathways, simons, yale school of medicine, zebrafish