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Top10 research advances include studies on genetics and stem cell research, stents

12-20-2007 · EurekAlert!

Several new studies on genetics and stem cell research, along with studies that continue to debate the use of stents to clear coronary artery blockages are among the top research advances in heart disease and stroke for 2007.

Keywords: top10, research, advances, include, studies, genetics, stem, cell, stents, advance, study, genetic, stent

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Advance in understanding of blood pressure gene could lead to new treatments
02-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
Research by scientists at UCL (University College London) has clearly demonstrated for the first time the structure and function of a gene crucial to the regulation of blood pressure. The discovery could be important in the search for new treatments for illnesses such as heart disease, the UK's biggest killer. In a paper published online today in Nature Medicine, the team, led by Professor Patrick Vallance and Dr James Leiper, UCL Department of Medicine, reveal the role of the human gene dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH), showing that loss of DDAH activity disrupts nitric oxide (NO) production. NO is critical in the regulation of blood pressure, nervous system functions and the immune system. The role of DDAH is to break down modified amino acids (Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and monomethyl arginine (L-NMMA)) that are produced by the body and have been shown to inhibit NO synthase. These molecules accumulate in various disease states including diabetes, renal failure and pulmonary and systemic hypertension, and their concentration in plasma (the fluid component of blood) is strongly predicative of cardiovascular disease and death. In a healthy human body, the majority of ADMA is eliminated through active metabolism by DDAH. Scientists have hypothesised that if DDAH function is impaired, NO production is reduced, and that this could be an important feature of increased cardiovascular risk. To examine this pathway in more detail, the researchers deleted the DDAH gene in mice. These mice went on to develop hypertension, or high blood pressure. They also designed specific inhibitors (small molecules) which bind to the active site of human DDAH. These small molecule inhibitors also induced hypertension in mice, confirming the importance of DDAH in the regulation of blood pressure. Dr Leiper, UCL Medicine, said: “These genetic and chemical approaches to disrupt DDAH showed remarkably consistent results, and provide compelling evidence that loss of DDAH function increases the concentration of ADMA and thereby disrupts vascular NO signalling. “There has been considerable scientific interest in this pathway and the role of ADMA as a novel risk factor, but so far there's been little evidence to support the idea that it's a cause of disease, rather than just a marker. Genes and their pathways are crucial to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and a better understanding of DDAH-1 could lead to important new treatments. “It could help us to establish if genetic variation predisposes certain people to these diseases, or whether environmental factors exert some of their effects through modulation of DDAH activity. “Our research also shows that this pathway could be harnessed therapeutically to limit production of NO in certain situations where too much nitric oxide is a bad thing; for example, hypotension and septic shock. These are some of the biggest problems in intensive care medicine and there is a huge unmet need for drug treatments.” The study, which was carried out at UCL's Rayne Institute, was funded by grants from the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The unexpected finding in the 1980s that a simple gas, nitric oxide (NO), is made by cells in the blood vessel wall and is a powerful control of blood vessel relaxation led to the award of the Nobel Prize in 1998 to its discoverers. "More recently, there has been increasing evidence that impairment of NO production is likely to be an important factor in the development of heart and circulatory disease, but the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. "This study suggests for the first time that the loss of the activity of the enzyme DDAH-1 leads to reduced NO production and may cause heart and circulatory disease. These findings are likely to be important in the search for new ways to optimise the health of our blood vessels." ### Notes for Editors 1. For more information, please contact Ruth Metcalfe in the UCL Media Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9739, mobile: +44 (0)7990 675 947, out of hours: +44 (0)7917 271 364, e-mail: r.metcalfe@ucl.ac.uk2. 'Disruption of methylarginine metabolism impairs vascular homeostasis' is published in the February issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Advance online publication is embargoed to 18.00 GMT (13.00 US Eastern) Sunday 4 February 2007. Journalists can obtain copies of the paper by contacting the UCL Media Relations Office.3. The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. About UCL Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. In the government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 59 UCL departments achieved top ratings of 5* and 5, indicating research quality of international excellence. UCL is the fourth-ranked UK university in the 2006 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Mahatma Gandhi (Laws 1889, Indian political and spiritual leader); Jonathan Dimbleby (Philosophy 1969, writer and television presenter); Junichiro Koizumi (Economics 1969, Prime Minister of Japan); Lord Woolf (Laws 1954, Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales); Alexander Graham Bell (Phonetics 1860s, inventor of the telephone), and members of the band Coldplay.
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Study led by Scripps Research scientist reveals little-known cell networks vital to circadian rhythm
05-03-2007 · EurekAlert!
In a wide-ranging systems biology study of circadian rhythm, a multi-institutional collaboration led by Scripps Research Institute Professor Steve Kay has uncovered some little-known cellular mechanisms for sustaining circadian rhythm and limiting the impact of genetic clock mutations in mammals. The new findings could have important implications for future circadian studies, and point researchers toward new ways to manipulate human circadian rhythm at the molecular level to treat diseases such as bipolar disorder.
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Study of diabetes and race reveals the imperfect science of defining ethnic groups
02-14-2007 · EurekAlert!
While previous biomedical research studies have found that genetics and race increase risk for some diseases, a new look into how researchers study genetic triggers of type 2 diabetes suggests that defining race remains an inexact science, with social and historic facts mixing with biology throughout the research process.
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Dog DNA study yields clues to diverse size of breeds
04-05-2007 · EurekAlert!
A new study published in tomorrow's edition of the research journal Science reveals a genetic marker that may determine whether dogs are big or small, and helps answer a burning question in genetics -- how could dogs as a species have such a tremendous variation in size?
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Hyperactivity and academic achievement could be linked by genetics
05-17-2007 · EurekAlert!
New research shows that the existence of overactivity, impulsivity and inattentiveness in children who also exhibit poor achievement in math, reading, and language may be due to shared genetic influences. The research was based on 2,000 7-year-old pairs of twins that are part of the UK-based "Twins Early Development Study." The existence of substantial overlap between hyperactivity and achievement has important implications for future research about genes associated with both behaviors.
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Study finds gene linked to aggressive prostate cancer
12-11-2007 · EurekAlert!
Results from two genome-wide association studies have identified a genetic variant of the DAB2IP gene that is associated with the risk of aggressive prostate cancer. Research teams from the Translational Genomics Research Institute, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions made the discovery jointly.
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First human trial tests stem-cell-based treatment for heart attacks
03-25-2007 · EurekAlert!
Previous research on the efficacy of stem cell therapy for heart repair has shown possible benefit from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) -- cells found in bone marrow that create connective tissue, bone and cartilage. A study presented today at the American College of Cardiology's Innovation in Intervention: i2 Summit reveals the results of the first human trial using MSCs for the treatment of myocardial infarction (MI, or heart attack).
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Journal theme issue highlights advances in eye disease genetics
02-12-2007 · EurekAlert!
Research on the genetic basis of eye diseases is enabling rapid progress in the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions, according to a series of articles on ophthalmic genetics in the February issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
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Muscle stem cells may offer a new treatment option for congestive heart failure
03-25-2007 · EurekAlert!
As a new wave of stem cell research continues, cardiologists are trying to tap into the self-renewing cells' life-saving potential. Scientists have performed the first US controlled, randomized Phase I clinical trial using a three-dimensional guided catheter system to deliver muscular stem cells to the heart. The study was presented today at the American College of Cardiology's Innovation in Intervention: i2 Summit in New Orleans.
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Genetic approach provides new insight into trastuzumab resistance in breast cancer
10-15-2007 · EurekAlert!
A new study provides important insight into the mechanisms involved in resistance to treatment of breast cancer patients with trastuzumab (Herceptin). The research, published by Cell Press in the October issue of the journal Cancer Cell, identifies markers that may help to identify patients who are unlikely to respond to trastuzumab treatment and provides a potential strategy for treating these patients.
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