Heart disease, especially a type called coronary artery disease, is one of the leading causes of death around the world.
In the United States, about 1 in 4 deaths is caused by this condition. That’s why scientists are working hard to find out what causes it and how to treat it better.
Researchers at the University of Virginia Health have made a discovery that might help. Mete Civelek, a researcher at the university’s School of Medicine, explains that certain cells in our blood vessels—called smooth muscle cells—play an important role in heart disease.
These cells usually help protect us. They form a kind of “cap” over plaque, which is a fatty buildup in the arteries. This cap helps stop the plaque from causing strokes. But sometimes, the same cells that protect us can actually make the disease worse by helping build up even more plaque. Scientists want to know why this happens.
To find answers, Noah Perry, a student working with Civelek, studied smooth muscle cells taken from people who had heart transplants. He wanted to find out which genes control how these cells behave. His research showed that there might be problems with how these cells handle nitrogen and a sugar called glycogen, which the body uses to store energy.
Even more interesting, the researchers found that another sugar called mannose might be involved. It could be a trigger that causes the smooth muscle cells to become harmful instead of helpful. However, more research is needed to fully understand mannose’s role.
Figuring out why and how these cells change their behavior could give doctors new tools to treat or even prevent coronary artery disease. If doctors can stop the cells from becoming harmful, they might be able to stop the disease from getting worse.
Civelek says this is very important because, even though we already have good treatments like medicines to lower cholesterol and control blood pressure, we still need more options to fight heart disease.
The research team—Perry, Diana Albarracin, Redouane Aherrahrou, and Civelek—is continuing to study this problem. They hope their work will one day lead to new treatments that help millions of people who suffer from heart disease.
It’s also helpful to know that other studies have shown vitamin D may help reduce inflammation, and vitamin K could lower the risk of heart disease by up to one-third. Recent research also points to certain foods that can improve brain health and ways of cooking that might affect eye health.
This study was published in the journal Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that vitamin K helps cut heart disease risk by a third, and a year of exercise reversed worrisome heart failure.
For more health information, please see recent studies about supplements that could help prevent heart disease, stroke, and results showing this food ingredient may strongly increase heart disease death risk.
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