Researchers from the University of Manchester, Baylor College of Medicine, and other international institutions have found a natural way the body protects the heart from a dangerous condition called heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, or HFpEF.
This discovery could lead to new treatments for a disease that currently has limited options.
HFpEF is a serious heart condition that is linked to metabolic stress, meaning problems with how the body processes energy and nutrients.
One cause of this condition is the build-up of fat in heart cells, which damages them over time.
Dr. Tamer Mohamed, a heart expert at Baylor, helped lead this research. His lab developed a way to study slices of real human heart tissue affected by HFpEF and compared them with results from studies on mice and rats.
The team began by examining gene activity in the hearts of people with metabolic problems and heart complications. They found changes in 488 genes. Two genes stood out the most: XBP1 and EDEM2. In HFpEF hearts, both of these genes were less active than normal.
EDEM2 has been studied in other diseases before, but this was one of the first times it was looked at in relation to heart disease. The researchers found that in animals, the XBP1 protein helps control the EDEM2 gene. In both humans and mice with heart issues caused by metabolic stress, EDEM2 was also found to be less active.
To understand how these genes affect heart health, the researchers turned off the Xbp1 or Edem2 gene in mice. When these genes were not working, the mice were more likely to develop fat build-up in the heart and show signs of heart failure.
But when the team restored the XBP1 or EDEM2 activity in the heart, the fat build-up decreased and the heart condition improved.
The study showed that XBP1 and EDEM2 work together to keep fat levels in heart cells under control. When this natural defense system doesn’t work properly, fat can build up and damage the heart, leading to HFpEF. By fixing this pathway, researchers were able to reverse the disease in animal models.
These results give scientists a new target for treating heart failure. By focusing on the XBP1 and EDEM2 genes, they hope to develop new therapies that can protect the heart from damage caused by fat overload, especially in people with metabolic conditions.
Dr. Mohamed says this discovery opens the door to studying this gene pathway further and developing treatments that might one day help people with HFpEF live longer, healthier lives.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that Vitamin D deficiency can increase heart disease risk, and results showing Zinc and vitamin B6 linked to lower death risk in heart disease.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about more coffee linked to heart rhythm disease, and results showing Zinc and vitamin B6 linked to lower death risk in heart disease.
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