UC Davis research shows that newly discovered drug reduces heart e...(sure and diabetes are the leading causes...)

The scientists showed they could inhibit the enzyme with a drug made by Paul Jones, a former postgraduate researcher at UC Davis. The swelling and ultimate failure of the heart is blocked and reversed, Hammock said.

"Interestingly, the increase in heart size associated with extreme exercise does not increase levels of the epoxide hydrolase, and exercise induced heart enlargement fortunately is not blocked by the drug."

This research follows earlier studies reported from the Chiamvimonvat laboratory on cardiac hypertrophy.

The two UC Davis laboratories collaborated with the laboratories of John Shyy at UC Riverside and Yi Zhu, Cardiovascular Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center. The 11-member research team also included Wei Pang, Nan Li, Ming Xu, Jun Yang and Youyi Zhang, all of China.

In a November 2006 paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Chiamvimonvat and Hammock laboratories showed that these enzyme inhibitors both block and reduce heart enlargement and irregular heart rhythms in a mouse model. The more recent work with the Zhu and Shyy laboratories extends these studies to show the involvement of angiotensin dependent enzyme induction in the process.

At the time, Chiamvimonvat said: "We need a better way to control and prevent enlargement of the heart to improve treatment options for patients and reduce mortality." "By blocking the pathway that leads to overgrowth of cardiac cells, we have shown that it is possible to prevent the progressive deterioration of heart function and the development of abnormal hearth rhythms."

The prototype drug published this week appears to be that "better way," the scientists said.

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