Scientists believe a drug approved to treat multiple sclerosis may also be able to help prevent an unrelated medical condition--heart failure.
In a mouse model of cardiac hypertrophy, a common cause of heart failure that causes thickening of the cardiac muscle, a team led by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine tested a compound called FTY-720, derived from a fungus used in traditional Chinese medicine. The drug, sold by Novartis ($NVS) as Gilenya (fingolimod), reduced heart mass, eased stiffening of the heart muscle, and improved overall cardiac function in the mice. The researchers also found that the drug inhibits expression of several genes involved in cardiac hypertrophy.
"We saw that FTY-720 blocked the activity of a protein we know is involved in causing heart-cell thickening," said R. John Solaro, professor and head of physiology and biophysics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in a statement.
When that protein is blocked, collagen and other proteins that play a role in heart-cell thickening are also down-regulated. In people with cardiac hypertrophy--which affects one in 500 people--collagen is overabundant. The fibrous protein is found between heart cells and causes the heart muscle to become stiff.
Cardiac hypertrophy causes the interior volume of the heart to shrink, forcing the organ to work harder to pump a decreasing volume of blood. Solaro and his team believe that some instances of heart failure could be avoided if this thickening of the heart muscle could be slowed.
- here's the press release
- and the study abstract