New discoveries from Harvard and Baylor get to the heart of cardiovascul...(cks into high gear. Separate researchers...)
cks into high gear. Separate researchers from Harvard, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Baylor looked at how we prevent inflammation from running amok. The scientists identified lipid mediators that the body uses to resolve inflammation once it has started. By targeting these lipid mediators and the mechanisms used to make them, scientists should be able to develop drugs that significantly reduce the inflammation that underlies much of atherosclerosis.
"The specific chemical mediators that naturally cool down the inflammatory process identified in this study represent a new drug target for anti-atherosclerosis therapy," said Aksam Merched, PhD, Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine and the first author of the study. "It's also noteworthy that aspirin stimulates the body to produce one class of these chemicals."
"Even if we delay the process by exercise and rabbit food, sooner or later our blood vessels rot," said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "Now that we appreciate that atherosclerosis is inflammation gone awry, we can attack its root causes. Studies like these take us closer to delaying the inevitable, and help us understand the factors that provoke heart attacks and strokes."
And as the first study aims to prevent atherosclerosis before the immune system kicks into gear and the second aims to prevent it after the immune system is activated, a third study appearing on the cover of the June 2008 print issue of The FASEB Journal (www.fasebj.org) discusses a new approach toward repairing the damage using artificial grafts that may heal into the natural arteries and blood vessels as time goes on. Find out more about this by visiting The FASEB Journal online at www.fasebj.org and clicking "Press Room."
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is the numbe
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| Contact: Cody Mooneyhan cmooneyhan@faseb.org 301-634-7104 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Source:Eurekalert |
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 New discoveries from Harvard and Baylor get to the heart of cardiovascular disease |
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