Heart disease is the top reason people die in the United States, even though doctors have been trying really hard to fight it.
They focus on managing diabetes, keeping blood pressure in check, and reducing cholesterol with medicines like aspirin and statins. But still, a lot of people are having heart attacks, even when these common risk factors are under control.
Recently, scientists at the University of Michigan made an interesting discovery. They found out that a specific protein might be responsible for atherosclerosis and kidney disease.
Atherosclerosis is when your arteries get hard and narrow, and it’s a problem for more than a billion people around the world.
This protein is called suPAR (soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor). It’s made by the bone marrow and works like a thermostat for the immune system, controlling how active it is.
Before this study, we knew suPAR was a sign of heart disease. But now, for the first time, the research shows that high levels of this protein actually cause atherosclerosis.
The research team looked at data from over 5,000 people who didn’t already have heart disease.
They found that people with higher levels of suPAR were much more likely to develop atherosclerosis and have heart problems. This was true regardless of their other health risks.
Then, they did a genetic study with 24,000 people. They were looking for gene variations that might affect suPAR levels in the blood.
They found a specific variant in the PLAUR gene (which is responsible for suPAR) and noticed that people with this variant usually had higher suPAR levels.
What’s really interesting is that this genetic variant was linked to atherosclerosis in a big study with 500,000 participants from the UK Biobank. This finding was also confirmed in two other large data sets.
So, all this genetic evidence strongly suggests that high suPAR is a cause of atherosclerosis.
The researchers also did experiments with mice. They saw that mice with high suPAR levels had a lot more atherosclerotic plaques in their aortas compared to mice with normal suPAR levels.
This study is unique because it combines clinical data, genetic information, and experimental results, all pointing to suPAR as a cause of heart disease.
Now, the researchers are trying to find ways to safely lower suPAR levels. This could be a new way to prevent and treat heart disease, especially because the usual treatments don’t seem to affect suPAR.
This study also connects with earlier findings that suPAR is a bad actor in kidney disease, which affects one in seven Americans. Often, people with kidney disease also have heart problems.
In fact, two-thirds of people with kidney disease have cardiovascular issues, and more than 40% of those with heart disease show signs of kidney problems.
So, if you’re interested in keeping your heart healthy, this study could be very important. The research was done by Salim Hayek and his team, and you can find it in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
If you care about heart disease, please read studies that herbal supplements could harm your heart rhythm, and how eating eggs can help reduce heart disease risk.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about new way to prevent heart attacks and strokes, and results showing this drug for heart disease may reduce COVID-19 risk.
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