The fight against ischemic cardiovascular disease -- the leading cause of heart attacks -- may have received a major boost from a Penn researcher. Medicine and Pharmacology Professor Bruce Liang at the Penn Medical School co-authored a study in the June 9 issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that proposes a new target for drug therapies of heart attacks and ischemic heart disease. Heart attacks and ischemic heart disease usually involve a loss of blood flow to heart tissue, which deprives the tissue of essential oxygen supply. Advances that slow or halt this process would be considered a medical breakthrough. The research produced by Liang's team suggested that the chemical adenosine, which occurs naturally in the body, could protect heart cells that are injured or deprived of oxygen. The chemical, when acting on heart cell receptors -- the cell's chemical doorways-- protects the cells from injury. Drugs that mimic the effects of adenosine could therefore be used to alter the effect of a heart attack. Liang, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, wrote that "potential drugs would attach in a lock-and-key fashion to adenosine receptors, triggering molecular events that could reduce the severity of a heart attack." Kenneth Jacobson, a researcher at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, was Liang's co-author on the study. The NIDDK is one of 24 departments comprising the National Institutes of Health. Jacobson was quick to stress the protective possibilities for adenosine-type drugs. "We have known for decades that adenosine protects the heart when it is overstressed," he said. "Now we have shown that a specific target on the cell? protects the heart muscle lacking oxygen and nutrients more effectively than any other." Liang was careful to note that work involving adenosine mimics is still at a "research level" and that possible drug treatments are still a few years down the road. However, "giving the drug during a heart attack and before a surgical procedure," Liang said, remain two prime targets for future utilization of drug therapies. Jacobson agreed with his colleague, noting that "it would be useful in an emergency situation where the chances of complications leading to ischemia would be significant." The research of Liang and Jacobson was funded through grants from the NIH, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the American Heart Association. Both doctors stressed the importance of their research funding, while Liang also chose to keep an eye out for the future. "We hope that we can get [future] collaboration from pharmaceutical companies in order to aid our patients," he said.
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