Uncovering the targets and partners of enzyme ADAMTS7, a suspect in heart disease risk

ADAMTS7 and cardiovascular disease: Identifying molecular mechanisms

Large international studies have identified genes that can increase a person’s risk of developing coronary heart disease. One of the genes identified as potentially important holds the instructions to make a molecule called ADAMTS7. We know that it is present in diseased blood vessels and that it can chop other protein into smaller fragments. But despite being discovered over a decade ago, we still know little about ADAMTS7. In this project, Dr Rens de Groot and his team are hoping to find out more about its role to understand how the ADAMTS7 gene mutations increase heart disease risk. They will try to identify which molecules are chopped up by ADAMTS7 and if it requires any ‘partners’ to carry out its tasks. With this work the researchers hope to vastly increase our knowledge of ADAMTS7. If their findings confirm that ADAMTS7 increases a person’s risk of developing coronary heart disease, or contributes to its progression, this work could lead to the development of important new medicines that target this molecule.