Heart attacks have been the leading cause of death in the U.S. for over a century, and most treatments today focus on breaking down blood clots after they’ve already formed.
However, researchers at Georgia Tech have discovered a new approach—preventing blood clots from forming in the first place.
This groundbreaking method uses a drug that is already widely available and affordable, which could mean faster access for patients compared to new drugs awaiting approval.
The researchers found that this drug, N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), can completely stop the formation of blood clots without increasing the risk of bleeding, a common side effect of current treatments.
This discovery offers hope for preventing not only heart attacks but also strokes and other conditions caused by blood clots. The findings were published in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.
How Blood Clots Form
Blood clots are typically held together by a protein called von Willebrand factor (VWF). Under normal conditions, VWF acts like a tightly wound ball of yarn. But when it unravels, it becomes sticky and traps platelets, which are blood cells that help in clotting. These clots can block blood flow, leading to heart attacks or strokes.
Current treatments to prevent clots often involve drugs that target platelets. While effective, these anti-platelet drugs can lead to serious side effects, particularly excessive bleeding. This presents a difficult choice for doctors.
According to David Ku, a professor at Georgia Tech, “We can give you a drug that might help prevent another heart attack, but it could also cause a lot of bleeding.”
A New Approach to Prevention
Instead of targeting platelets, Ku and his team focused on VWF, the protein responsible for binding the clot together. They aimed to break down VWF before clots could form. To do this, they turned to NAC, a drug already used in clinics to treat acetaminophen (Tylenol) overdose.
Previous researchers had looked at NAC’s ability to break down clots after they formed, but Ku’s team tried something new: using NAC to prevent clots before they could even begin.
“We chose NAC because it’s already used in medical settings and has a solid safety record,” said Christopher Bresette, a postdoctoral researcher involved in the study. “Re-purposing an existing drug can speed up the process of bringing it to patients.”
Testing the Drug
At Georgia Tech’s Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, the team tested NAC on a model that simulates how blood flows through narrowed arteries, which is often how clots leading to heart attacks or strokes form. In this model, NAC completely stopped clots from forming.
Next, they tested NAC in mice and saw similar results. What’s more, NAC’s effects lasted for six hours, even after it had left the bloodstream. This extended benefit means that NAC could keep arteries clear for longer periods, reducing the risk of clots forming.
Future Possibilities
The researchers believe NAC could be particularly beneficial for people who have already had a heart attack and are at high risk for another one in the near future.
By giving an intravenous (IV) injection of NAC, doctors could lower the immediate risk of a second heart attack. In the long term, NAC could potentially be taken as a daily pill to reduce the overall chance of heart attacks.
The potential uses for NAC are vast. It could be used to prevent not only heart attacks but also strokes, embolisms, and other conditions caused by blood clots.
The research team is hopeful that clinical trials will begin soon, and they aim to get FDA approval so that NAC can be used to help patients as quickly as possible.
This discovery offers a new hope for millions of people at risk of heart attacks, providing a safer way to prevent blood clots without the dangerous side effects that come with many current treatments.
By stopping clots before they even form, NAC could represent a major step forward in cardiovascular health.
If you care about heart failure, please read studies about diabetes drug that could revolutionize heart failure treatment, and this drug can be a low-cost heart failure treatment
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies that exercise in middle age reversed worrisome heart failure, and results showing this drug combo can cut risk of stroke and heart attack by half.
Copyright © 2024 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
