Histone deacetylase inhibitors – first aid for a heart attack?
American scientists have discovered a fundamentally new class of drugs that significantly reduce damage to the heart muscle during a heart attack in animal experiments. They may in the future become an integral part of emergency care for this disease.
Researchers from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania injected mice with artificially induced myocardial infarction with drugs that inhibit the enzyme histone deacetylase (HDAC), which changes the "packaging" of DNA, and therefore the activity of genes and protein synthesis. It turned out that these drugs reduce the area of damage, i.e. the area of the heart muscle that died as a result of the cessation of blood supply, by more than half. Moreover, the effect persists even when they are administered an hour after the onset of a heart attack.
Further studies have shown that under the action of histone deacetylase inhibitors, the activity of genes responsible for the death of heart muscle cells and increased permeability of heart vessels in conditions of reduced blood supply (ischemia) is blocked. It was also found that the main role in the response of cells to ischemia is played by the HDAC4 histone deacetylase subtype.
If the effectiveness and safety of the drugs are confirmed in humans, they can be used in emergency care for heart attacks, as well as for heart surgery.
Currently, histone deacetylase inhibitors are successfully used for the treatment of epilepsy and some malignant neoplasms.
Copper news based on Newswise materialsPortal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru