In a new study from Columbia University, researchers found that an over-the-counter cough suppressant can knock some heart cells back into rhythm.
This may lead to a new way to treat a rare heart condition called long QT syndrome.
In people with long QT syndrome, heart cells are not always ready to produce the next beat, a situation that can knock the heart out of its normal rhythm, which may be life-threatening.
For many people with long QT, no treatment can correct the heart cells or prevent arrythmia.
Previous studies have shown that heart cells in the lab would resume a normal rhythm when a certain enzyme was inhibited.
But the drugs used to inhibit the enzyme also had other unintended effects, such as liver toxicity.
To conduct the current study, the team examined the published studies for ideas.
They learned that the enzyme could be inhibited through an intermediary molecule inside heart cells called SIGMAR1. And, SIGMAR1 could be targeted by a cough suppressant, dextromethorphan.
In the current study, researchers found that the cough suppressant, when added to heart cells, successfully prepared the heart cells for the next beat and soothed the cells’ irregular rhythm.
The cough suppressant reset heart cells from people with Timothy syndrome, a genetic disorder that also causes other heart abnormalities, and from people with more common forms of long QT syndrome.
The findings suggest that drugs targeting SIGMAR1 have the potential to treat a wide array of patients with long QT syndrome.
But the researcher also cautions that it’s premature to use dextromethorphan to treat long QT patients.
The drug has a short half-life and would have to be used long-term, which might still have unknown adverse side effects.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about new way to prevent heart attacks, strokes, and common nutrient that is good for your heart rate.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about how oral health may affect your heart, brain and risk of death, and results showing doing this can prevent 2 million heart disease cases.
The study was conducted by LouJin Song et al., and published in Nature Cardiovascular Research.
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