Investigating a new suspect in hypertension

Investigation of MARCKS-PIP2-voltage-gated Ca2+ channel pathway in vascular smooth muscle

Nearly 30 per cent of adults in the UK have high blood pressure, which raises the risk of heart disease threefold. Despite how common it is, today’s medicines can fail to tightly control blood pressure in many people. This team in London are searching for better ways to treat this condition by understanding exactly how high blood pressure develops. High blood pressure occurs when the muscle cells in the walls of our blood vessels contract too much. The series of signals inside these cells that cause them to contract are not entirely understood, but we do know that the activity of proteins called calcium channels are important. Professor Albert and his colleagues have recently identified that the interaction of calcium channels with another protein called MARCKS could be key. In this project they will delve further into this interaction in mice. By learning how this new suspect contributes to the development of high blood pressure, they hope to find new ways to tackle the condition.