Could blocking a protein called EPAC1 prevent heart and circulatory disease?

Novel EPAC1 inhibitors to enhance insulin sensitivity in vascular endothelial cells (Ms Urszula Luchowska)

Dr Stephen Yarwood from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh is working out if blocking an enzyme called EPAC1 could treat heart and circulatory diseases associated with metabolic syndrome – a combination of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. Around half of people with metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes are affected by heart and circulatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, and endothelial cells lining the blood vessels do not work properly. EPAC1 controls the natural defences in these cells by affecting a gene called SOCS3, which blocks the processes leading to damaging inflammation. In this project, Dr Yarwood’s PhD student will work out how EPAC1 controls these natural defences that are normally blocked by inflammation in metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, to keep insulin working. The student will work out how new molecules that block EPAC1 work and if they could control atherosclerosis development by controlling insulin and inflammation. By better understanding EPAC1’s role in heart and circulatory disease development, this research will reveal if blocking it using drugs could be a new way to prevent heart and circulatory problems in metabolic syndrome.