March 06, 2012
Drug treatment hope for heart failure
patients
Patients
with heart failure could benefit from drugs already being tested
for patients with other conditions, a study we funded has
shown.
A group of scientists from the University of Oxford discovered
that boosting levels of a naturally occurring substance in the
body, called fumarate, could help reduce the
damage caused by a heart
attack. Drug treatments based on increasing fumarate levels
could also benefit patients undergoing heart surgery.
Fumarate plays a part in the body's natural process of
converting food into energy. The researchers, part
of our Centre of Research Excellence in
Oxford, discovered that raising its levels in mice significantly
reduced heart damage.
This promising study shows fumarate might be repurposed for the benefit of heart patients
The results pave the
way for a possible clinical trial in human patients. The team, led
by Dr Houman Ashrafian, plans to try out the
effects of
boosting fumarate on patients undergoing heart
surgery.
Our Associate Medical Director, Professor Jeremy Pearson, said:
"This very promising study shows that fumarate,
already safely trialled in patients for other conditions, including
multiple sclerosis, might be repurposed for the benefit of heart
patients. It provides strong foundations to build on in the future,
and we look forward to seeing the results of the first clinical
trials."
The discovery was published in the journal Cell Metabolism.