Blocking Protein Action Minimizes Serious Ill Effects of High BP on Heart

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have revealed a new route to treat heart disease.

A new route to the treatment of heart disease has been unveiled by scientists at Johns Hopkins.

They have found through mice studies that blocking the action of a signaling protein deep inside the heart's muscle cells blunts the most serious ill effects of high blood pressure on the heart.

Blood Pressure Screening
Hypertension accounts for nearly 6% of deaths worldwide.

These include heart muscle enlargement, scar tissue formation and loss of blood vessel growth.

Specifically, the team found that their intervention halted transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) secretion at a precise location called cell receptor type 2 in cardiac muscle cells.

Blocking its action in this cell type forestalled pathways for hypertrophy, fibrosis, and angiogenesis by stopping the unbridled TGF-beta signaling, which is typically observed in heart failure, in all other non-muscle types of cells in blood vessels and fibrous tissue.

Benefits of Blood Pressure Tablets on your Health
Hypertension affects about a billion individuals worldwide and is a silent killer. Medication & lifestyle modification is the cornerstone of an effective antihypertensive treatment.

However, blocking TGF-beta signaling in non-muscle cells did not stop disease progression.

The study is believed to show the first evidence of how TGF-beta is stimulated differently by various cell types in the heart and which resulting pathways promote heart failure, the most common kind of heart disease.

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The study is forthcoming in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Source-ANI

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