A newly discovered gene known as MCPIP could provide scientists with the key to developing treatments for preventing inflammation that can cause heart disease, University of Central Florida researchers have discovered.
A research team led by Pappachan Kolattukudy, dean of the UCF Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences, found that the levels of MCPIP increased in mice as their blood vessels became inflamed and heart disease began to develop. The formation of MCPIP leads to the death of healthy cells, so treatments that block that formation could prove effective for heart disease.
The researchers are trying to discover the molecular changes that occur as heart disease develops. Better understanding those molecular changes would help with the development of drugs that can either prevent or treat the disease.
The team's findings are published in the May 12 issue of Circulation Research, the journal of the American Heart Association. The research is funded through a $1.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The laboratory mice developed heart disease in a way similar to how it forms in humans, which suggests that the findings could hold promise for treating human heart disease. However, more research is needed to evaluate whether the same results found in mice could be expected in humans.
The UCF research team already has found that MCPIP is elevated in human hearts suffering ischemic heart failure.