Heart disease—including heart attacks and strokes—continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States.
Despite the use of medications like aspirin and statins to control common risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol, many people still end up with serious heart problems.
It’s like trying to put out a fire, but some of the flames keep burning. Now, scientists may have found a reason why.
Researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered a protein in the body called suPAR (short for soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor) that seems to play an important role in the development of heart disease.
This protein is made in the bone marrow and helps regulate the immune system—kind of like a thermostat that keeps the immune response balanced. But when there’s too much suPAR, it can tip the body out of balance and cause harm instead of help.
One of the main problems suPAR causes is a condition called atherosclerosis. This is when the arteries become hard and narrow, making it harder for blood to flow. Atherosclerosis is one of the major causes of heart attacks and strokes. The researchers found that high levels of suPAR can actually make this condition worse.
To understand suPAR’s role, the scientists looked at health data from more than 5,000 people who did not have heart disease when the study started.
They found that those with higher suPAR levels were more likely to develop atherosclerosis and heart disease over time—even if they didn’t have other typical risk factors like high cholesterol or high blood pressure. That means suPAR may be an independent risk factor all on its own.
The researchers also studied the genetic information of 24,000 people and discovered that some had a special gene variant that caused their bodies to make more suPAR.
In a much larger group of 500,000 people, they saw the same result: the gene variant was linked to higher suPAR levels and a greater risk of heart disease. These findings were also confirmed in two other large studies.
They even did tests on mice. Mice with more suPAR in their bodies developed more plaque (a fatty substance) in their arteries, which is a sign of atherosclerosis. This gave the scientists even more confidence that suPAR was directly involved in causing the disease.
What makes this research so important is that suPAR is not something current heart treatments target. Most medications focus on lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, or blood sugar. But they don’t touch suPAR. This new finding could open the door to a whole new way of treating heart disease by lowering suPAR levels directly.
Even more interesting, suPAR also seems to be linked to kidney disease, which affects about 1 in 7 people in the U.S. Many people who have kidney problems also end up with heart problems, and the researchers found that suPAR could be the link between the two.
In fact, over 40% of people with heart disease also have signs of kidney disease. This shows how connected our organs really are—and how one problem in the body can lead to another.
Dr. Salim Hayek, the lead scientist on the study, says we need to think about health in a more connected way. Instead of treating diseases one by one, doctors may need to look at how different parts of the body influence each other. SuPAR seems to be a piece of that bigger picture.
Now, researchers are trying to figure out how to safely reduce suPAR levels in the body. If they can do that, it could lead to new treatments not just for heart disease, but for kidney disease as well. These are two serious health issues that affect millions of people around the world.
Although more research is needed, this discovery gives doctors and scientists hope. By better understanding how suPAR works, we may finally have a new way to stop heart disease at its source—and help millions of people live longer, healthier lives.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that yogurt may help lower the death risks in heart disease, and coconut sugar could help reduce artery stiffness.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that Vitamin D deficiency can increase heart disease risk, and results showing vitamin B6 linked to lower death risk in heart disease.
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