Targeting the cell’s sodium pump to treat heart failure and high blood pressure

The Na/K ATPase in cardiovascular health and disease

Heart failure is a condition in which your heart is not pumping blood around the body as well as it used to, and there is currently no cure. In contrast, high blood pressure is usually a manageable disease that can be treated with medication and lifestyle changes. However, in both diseases, the amount of sodium rises too high inside the muscle cells in the heart and in artery walls. Professor Michael Shattock is investigating the sodium ‘pump’ that controls the sodium levels inside cells to try and find new ways to treat these conditions. A protein called NKA (Na+, K+-ATPase) acts as a pump that allows cells to remove high levels of sodium and it is regulated by another protein called phospholemman (PLM). In heart failure, high blood pressure and during the ageing process, NKA and PLM start to lose their function and sodium levels increase inside the cells. Professor Shattock and his team at King’s College London will study the way that these two proteins interact to try to find ways of preventing cells from getting overloaded with sodium. The team will study whether stimulating, suppressing or modifying these proteins causes a change in sodium levels that could, ultimately, lead to improvements in diseases like heart failure and high blood pressure. The long-term goal of the research is to develop and test drugs that could target NKA or PLM for treating heart failure and high blood pressure.