For many years, doctors have focused on treating diabetes, lowering blood pressure, and reducing cholesterol to prevent heart disease.
Medicines like aspirin and statins have helped, but heart disease is still the leading cause of death in the U.S. Many people continue to suffer heart attacks even when their known risk factors are under control.
Now, researchers at the University of Michigan have found a new reason why heart disease remains such a big problem. They discovered that a protein called suPAR (soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor) plays a major role in a condition called atherosclerosis.
This condition causes the arteries to harden and narrow, which increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Atherosclerosis happens when fatty deposits build up inside the arteries. This reduces blood flow and can lead to serious heart problems. Doctors already know that high cholesterol and high blood pressure make this worse. But this new study shows that suPAR can actually cause atherosclerosis to begin with.
SuPAR is made by the bone marrow and helps control the immune system. When suPAR levels are too high, the immune system stays overactive, causing ongoing inflammation. This inflammation damages the arteries and makes it easier for plaques to form.
Until now, suPAR was only linked to heart disease. But this new study shows it can actually cause the disease when its levels are high.
To learn more, researchers looked at data from over 5,000 people who had never had heart disease. They found that people with high suPAR levels were more likely to develop atherosclerosis—even if their cholesterol and blood pressure were normal.
They also studied genetic data from 24,000 people and found that a gene called PLAUR controls suPAR levels. People with certain versions of this gene had higher suPAR and a higher risk of atherosclerosis.
To confirm their findings, the scientists used a special method called Mendelian randomization. They used genetic data from 500,000 people in the UK Biobank. This confirmed that suPAR is not just connected to heart disease—it actually causes it.
The researchers also did experiments with mice. Mice with high suPAR levels developed more plaques in their arteries than normal mice. This showed that suPAR can directly damage arteries and cause heart disease.
This discovery is very important because current treatments for heart disease, like statins, don’t affect suPAR levels. Scientists are now looking for ways to lower suPAR. If they succeed, they could help millions of people who are still at risk even when taking regular heart medications.
The study also found that suPAR may be linked to kidney disease. Many people with heart disease also have kidney problems, and this protein may be part of the reason why. Treating suPAR might help both the heart and kidneys.
Led by Dr. Salim Hayek, this research was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. It may lead to a new way of treating heart disease—one that goes beyond cholesterol and blood pressure and targets inflammation at its source.
This discovery brings hope to millions of people and could lead to better treatments for heart attacks, strokes, and kidney disease in the future.
If you care about heart disease, please read studies about a big cause of heart failure, and common blood test could advance heart failure treatment.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about a new way to repair human heart, and results showing drinking coffee may help reduce heart failure risk.
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