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First step in developing heart hormone-based pill to control high blood pressure

03-27-2007 · EurekAlert!

In an era of increasing death and illness from heart and blood vessel disease -- which also can impair kidney function -- Mayo Clinic researchers have designed two promising new cardiovascular treatment approaches.

Keywords: step, developing, heart, hormone-based, pill, control, blood, pressure, hormone, based

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Journal edition dedicated to women's unique hypertension issues
02-07-2008 · EurekAlert!
Women face unique risks for developing hypertension and special challenges in keeping their high blood pressure under control, according to new research published in a special themed issue of Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
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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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Blood pressure drug shows potential as lung cancer treatment
03-15-2007 · EurekAlert!
A hormone that is important in the control of blood pressure also shrinks lung cancer tumors in mice, suggesting a new way to prevent or treat the deadly cancer, according to scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
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Racial disparities universal in Medicare health plans, study finds
10-24-2006 · EurekAlert!
Blacks do not achieve the same health outcomes as whites in managed care plans under Medicare, the nation's largest health insurance program, according to a study conducted by Brown Medical School and Harvard Medical School researchers. Published in JAMA, the analysis surprisingly shows that significant racial disparities persist within Medicare plans -- even high-performing ones -- based on outcomes related to control of diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure.
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SIDS infants show abnormalities in brain area controlling breathing, heart rate
10-31-2006 · EurekAlert!
Infants who die of sudden infant death syndrome have abnormalities in the brainstem, a part of the brain that helps control heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, temperature and arousal, report researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. The finding is the strongest evidence to date suggesting that innate differences in a specific part of the brain may place some infants at increased risk for SIDS.
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Clevidipine during heart surgery improves blood pressure control
03-27-2007 · EurekAlert!
Researchers today reported that an investigational anti-hypertensive therapy may perform better in controlling blood pressure than standard treatments for patients undergoing heart surgery, during a presentation at the American College of Cardiology’s 56th Annual Scientific Session. Another study found that measuring a certain peptide can help evaluate dyspnea (shortness of breath) as heart- or lung-related in the general population.
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New study: Pycnogenol reduces heart failure
05-16-2007 · EurekAlert!
A study to be published in an upcoming edition of the journal of Cardiovascular Toxicology reveals Pycnogenol natural pine bark extract from the French maritime pine tree, helps prevent damage that high blood pressure causes to the heart. The study demonstrates Pycnogenol counteracts the "wearing out" of the heart, which may aid the five million Americans living with heart failure. Previous studies have shown Pycnogenol supplementation to be associated with improved cardiovascular health, such as cholesterol reduction, blood pressure control and prevention of thrombosis.
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High blood pressure worsening in all states for women; begins to stagnate for men
02-11-2008 · EurekAlert!
Uncontrolled hypertension rates in men and women vary across the country, but all states -- especially in the south and including the nation's capital -- should boost blood pressure control efforts, researchers report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
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Cells passed from mother to child may be first step in developing new treatments for type 1 diabetes
01-22-2007 · EurekAlert!
For the first time, scientists have discovered that cells passed from mother to child during pregnancy can differentiate into functioning islet beta cells that produce insulin in the child. The same study also found that maternal DNA was found in greater amounts in the blood of children and young adults with type 1 diabetes than their healthy siblings and a control group, implying that they may be attempting to repair damaged tissue.
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One pill may be better than two for treating patients with high blood pressure
05-11-2007 · EurekAlert!
Adults with high blood pressure and additional risk factors for heart disease may benefit more from taking one tablet rather than two, if their current treatment combines the lipid-lowering medication atorvastatin with the blood pressure-lowering medication amlodipine.
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