From bug to drug: engineering new heart drugs from tick saliva

Precision therapeutics for cardiovascular inflammation 

Inflammation plays a role in several heart and circulatory diseases, including myocarditis – inflammation of the heart tissue. It is a very serious condition, which has a poor prognosis and no effective treatment. BHF Professor Shoumo Bhattacharya is looking at ways to prevent this inflammation by targeting a large group of molecules called chemokines. There are 46 chemokines involved in inflammation. Current treatments for myocarditis do not specifically target the chemokines that are involved in myocarditis, which means they aren’t very effective. Professor Bhattacharya’s team is looking at a new alternative – the development of anti-inflammatory treatments from tick saliva. Ticks have evolved to have molecules in their saliva called evasins that can attach and block several types of chemokine at once. The team has identified 40 new evasins, and now aims to develop them further as potential treatments. They plan to explore the way that evasins work, and genetically engineer them to enhance their natural properties and target particular subsets of chemokines. They will then study whether these evasins have anti-inflammatory properties in mice with myocarditis. If successful, they will seek future funding to expand this work to look at other heart and circulatory disorders in which inflammation plays a damaging role. This ‘bug-to-drug’ programme is hoped to lead to urgently needed new treatments for myocarditis and eventually strokes and heart attacks, too.