Impact of creatine / homoarginine metabolism in health and disease (renewal)
Homoarginine (HA) and creatine are substances produced by the AGAT enzyme. Too little of either substance impairs heart function, and it’s thought that they may act together in the progression of heart failure. Low levels of HA are known to impair heart function in mice and predict poor outcomes in patients, but the biochemical role of HA is unclear. Creatine, on the other hand, is known to be involved in storing and transferring energy in heart muscle cells, ensuring that energy supply meets the demand of the heart. Professor Lygate and his team have already shown that increasing creatine levels improves the recovery after a heart attack in mice and that a small amount of HA added to the diet improves the diseased heart’s ability to contract. In this study, they want to understand how creatine and HA levels are controlled and how these substances interact with each other. The team are using genetic methods to understand how HA affects heart muscle contraction. For creatine, they plan to study in more depth how it protects the heart, and also how it does this in the presence of risk-increasing factors such as diabetes. They will also explore potential interactions between the two substances. The results of this study will provide a better understanding of the role of these substances in energy usage and heart function, and have the potential to help find new medicines for coronary heart disease and heart failure.
Project details
| Grant amount | £1,238,579 |
|---|---|
| Grant type | Chairs & Programme Grants |
| Application type | Programme Grant |
| Start Date | 01 January 2019 |
| Duration | 4 years, 9 months |
| Reference | RG/18/12/34040 |
| Status | In Progress |
