
AsianScientist (Oct. 21, 2016) – Researchers in Japan have identified a key protein that causes heart failure. The research was published in Nature Communications.
Heart failure occurs when heart function is reduced, making unable to pump enough blood to the body. Patients with severe heart failure have a very poor prognosis, with a five-year survival rate of 50-60 percent despite advances in modern medicine and medical technology.
The protein angiopoietin-like protein 2 (ANGPTL2) is secreted by cardiac muscle cells, and decreases the contraction force of the heart by reducing energy production and the regulating function of the calcium concentration in cardiac muscle cells. Professor Yuichi Oike’s research team from Kumamoto University found that heart muscle cells increased their production and secretion of the protein ANGPTL2 in response to the stress of high blood pressure.
Excessive ANGPTL2 secretion by cardiac muscle cells impaired important functions that help maintain the contractile force of the heart, such as intracellular calcium concentration regulation and energy production. On the other hand, moderate exercise reduces the production of ANGPTL2 in cardiac muscle cells and helps keep the heart healthy.
“We found that ANGPLT2 is significantly involved in heart failure. Among knockout mice that could not produce the protein, the development of heart failure was suppressed in a manner similar to moderate exercise,” said Oike.
“Furthermore, we genetically engineered a non-pathogenic virus which was designed to infect cardiac muscle cells and reproduce a special RNA molecule that inhibits the production of the ANGPTL2 protein.”
The authors’ gene therapy approach was successful in suppressing ANGPTL2 production in cardiac muscle cells and reducing the pathological progression of heart failure in mice. Current treatment for heart failure is mainly symptomatic; such gene therapy approaches are expected to become a fundamental treatment that corrects the mechanism of reduced heart function itself.
The article can be found at: Tian et al. (2016) ANGPTL2 Activity in Cardiac Pathologies Accelerates Heart Failure by Perturbing Cardiac Function and Energy Metabolism.
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Source: Kumamoto University; Photo: Shutterstock.
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