Even if you eat right and exercise regularly, chances are high that you'll still die of a heart attack or stroke. But thanks to new findings by researchers from Harvard and Baylor, the odds may finally shift in your favor. Two unrelated studies recently published online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) describe findings on atherosclerosis that have the potential to save millions of lives.
Both studies involved experiments in mice, but cover biological processes present in humans. In the first, scientists from Harvard explain how the absence of a single protein, called "ROCK1," profoundly reduces inflammation in the walls of blood vessels provoked by fatty deposits (atherosclerosis). In this study, scientists found that ROCK1 is necessary for immune cells, called macrophages, to "clean up" vascular walls when they come into contact with fatty deposits. Inflammation is a normal byproduct of the clean-up process and, when it goes unchecked, leads to clogging and hardening of the arteries. When ROCK1 is absent, macrophages no longer contributed to these fatty deposits and mice showed significantly less inflammation and atherosclerosis. This discovery could lead to new treatments, such as ROCK1 inhibitors, that could dampen the inflammatory response to fatty deposits and slow the progression of atherosclerosis, and in so doing, reduce the incidence of heart attacks and strokes.
According to James Liao, MD, Director of Vascular Medicine Research, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and one of the report's co-authors, "the ultimate goal of the research is to prevent or slow atherosclerosis, and these findings provide a new target to do this."
While the first study works to prevent inflammation by keeping cells of the immune system at bay, the second report focuses on the body's ability (or inability) to "cool down" inflammation after this clean-up machinery ki
'/>"/>
| Contact: Cody Mooneyhan cmooneyhan@faseb.org 301-634-7104 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Source:Eurekalert |
Related biology news :
1. DNA replication behavior in complex organisms may foreshadow leaps in genomic discoveries
2. Jeremy Jackson honored by Harvard Museum of Natural History
3. Harvard researchers publish MRI images of genes in action in the living brain
4. BASF and Harvard University announce extensive research collaboration
5. Vitamin D: New way to treat heart failure?
6. Study finds Chinese food good for your heart
7. Substance in red wine found to keep hearts young
8. Brief, intense exercise benefits the heart
9. Jefferson receives $11.6M NIH grant to study novel mechanisms of heart failure
10. Study finds possible connection between marijuana abuse and stroke or heart attacks
11. UCLA stem cell researchers create heart and blood cells from reprogrammed skin cells
 |
| Copyright © 2003-2012 Bio-Medicine. All rights reserved. ABOUT | CONTACT US | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS AND CONDITIONS |  |