RUNX1 – a new target for stopping the damaging effects of heart attack

Targeting RUNX to attenuate adverse cardiac remodelling and progression to heart failure

Glasgow researchers believe that the protein RUNX1 could hold the key to preserving heart function and preventing heart failure. Medical advances made over the last half century mean that more people survive a heart attack and return to their lives and families. However, the damage done to the heart can leave survivors at risk of developing heart failure later. This is a debilitating condition in which the heart cannot pump blood around the body as well as it should. Researchers around the world are striving to find a way to prevent or repair heart damage after heart attack. Professor Loughrey and his team have discovered that shortly after a heart attack, the levels of a protein called RUNX1 increases in heart muscle cells. They have demonstrated that in mice that lack RUNX1 in these cells, heart function is preserved after heart attack. Importantly, they’ve also discovered reducing RUNX1 in normal mice improves the heart’s ability to pump after heart attack. In this study the team will expand their studies of RUNX1, which they believe has huge potential as a target through which the damage caused by heart attack could be minimised. This would ensure that more heart attack survivors can avoid heart failure, and live active lives for longer.