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Science Forum Index » Medicine - Cardiology Forum » Rabbit Food and Atherosclerosis...
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| ironjustice... |
 Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 8:21 am |
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Public release date: 18-Jun-2008
Contact: Cody Mooneyhan
cmooneyhan at (no spam) faseb.org
301-634-7104
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
New discoveries from Harvard and Baylor get to the heart of
cardiovascular disease
Atherosclerosis is inflammation gone awry: 2 articles in the FASEB
Journal identify new and important regulators of blood vessel injury
Even if you eat right and exercise regularly, chances are high that
you'll still die of a heart attack or stroke. But thanks to new
findings by researchers from Harvard and Baylor, the odds may finally
shift in your favor. Two unrelated studies recently published online
in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) describe findings on
atherosclerosis that have the potential to save millions of lives.
Both studies involved experiments in mice, but cover biological
processes present in humans. In the first, scientists from Harvard
explain how the absence of a single protein, called "ROCK1,"
profoundly reduces inflammation in the walls of blood vessels provoked
by fatty deposits (atherosclerosis). In this study, scientists found
that ROCK1 is necessary for immune cells, called macrophages, to
"clean up" vascular walls when they come into contact with fatty
deposits. Inflammation is a normal byproduct of the clean-up process
and, when it goes unchecked, leads to clogging and hardening of the
arteries. When ROCK1 is absent, macrophages no longer contributed to
these fatty deposits and mice showed significantly less inflammation
and atherosclerosis. This discovery could lead to new treatments, such
as ROCK1 inhibitors, that could dampen the inflammatory response to
fatty deposits and slow the progression of atherosclerosis, and in so
doing, reduce the incidence of heart attacks and strokes.
According to James Liao, MD, Director of Vascular Medicine Research,
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and one of the
report's co-authors, "the ultimate goal of the research is to prevent
or slow atherosclerosis, and these findings provide a new target to do
this."
While the first study works to prevent inflammation by keeping cells
of the immune system at bay, the second report focuses on the body's
ability (or inability) to "cool down" inflammation after this clean-up
machinery kicks into high gear. Separate researchers from Harvard,
Brigham and Women's Hospital and Baylor looked at how we prevent
inflammation from running amok. The scientists identified lipid
mediators that the body uses to resolve inflammation once it has
started. By targeting these lipid mediators and the mechanisms used to
make them, scientists should be able to develop drugs that
significantly reduce the inflammation that underlies much of
atherosclerosis.
"The specific chemical mediators that naturally cool down the
inflammatory process identified in this study represent a new drug
target for anti-atherosclerosis therapy," said Aksam Merched, PhD,
Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine and the first author
of the study. "It's also noteworthy that aspirin stimulates the body
to produce one class of these chemicals."
"Even if we delay the process by exercise and rabbit food, sooner or
later our blood vessels rot," said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-
Chief of The FASEB Journal. "Now that we appreciate that
atherosclerosis is inflammation gone awry, we can attack its root
causes. Studies like these take us closer to delaying the inevitable,
and help us understand the factors that provoke heart attacks and
strokes."
And as the first study aims to prevent atherosclerosis before the
immune system kicks into gear and the second aims to prevent it after
the immune system is activated, a third study appearing on the cover
of the June 2008 print issue of The FASEB Journal (www.fasebj.org)
discusses a new approach toward repairing the damage using artificial
grafts that may heal into the natural arteries and blood vessels as
time goes on. Find out more about this by visiting The FASEB Journal
online at www.fasebj.org and clicking "Press Room."
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
heart disease is the number one killer of Americans and a major cause
of disability. About 29 percent of all U.S. deaths are from heart
disease (approximately 700,000 a year). Stroke is the leading cause of
disability in the United States and the third leading cause of death.
By reducing the incidence of atherosclerosis, the risk of fatal heart
attacks or strokes would decrease significantly.
###
The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) is published by the
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and
is consistently ranked among the top three biology journals worldwide
by the Institute for Scientific Information. FASEB comprises 21
nonprofit societies with more than 80,000 members, making it the
largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United
States. FASEB advances biological science through collaborative
advocacy for research policies that promote scientific progress and
education and lead to improvements in human health.
Article details:
Hong-Wei Wang, Ping-Yen Liu, Naotsugu Oyama, Yoshiyuki Rikitake, Shiro
Kitamoto, Jonathan Gitlin, James K. Liao, and William A. Boisvert.
Deficiency of ROCK1 in bone marrow-derived cells protects against
atherosclerosis in LDLR–/– mice. FASEB J. doi:10.1096/fj.08-108829.
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/abstract/fj.08-108829v1
Aksam J. Merched, Kerry Ko, Katherine H. Gotlinger, Charles N. Serhan,
and Lawrence Chan. Atherosclerosis: evidence for impairment of
resolution of vascular inflammation governed by specific lipid
mediators. FASEB J. doi:10.1096/fj.08-112201.
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/abstract/fj.08-112201v1
Who loves ya.
Tom
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