Heart attacks have been the leading cause of death in the United States for over 100 years. Many treatments today work by breaking down blood clots after they have already formed, but a new discovery could change that. Researchers at Georgia Tech have found a way to prevent blood clots from forming in the first place.
The exciting part is that the drug they used is not new or expensive. It is a medication that is already widely available and commonly used for other health problems. This could mean that people might benefit from this treatment much sooner than if it were a brand-new drug that still needed full approval from the FDA.
In the future, this drug could help prevent second heart attacks in patients who are at high risk. It could also lower the chances of primary heart attacks, strokes, and other health problems caused by blood clots.
The research team published their findings in a scientific paper called “N-Acetyl Cysteine Prevents Arterial Thrombosis in a Dose-Dependent Manner In Vitro and in Mice” in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.
Normally, blood clots are treated using anti-platelet drugs. These medications help stop clots but can cause serious side effects, like dangerous bleeding. Dr. David Ku, a professor at Georgia Tech, explained that doctors often face a tough choice: they can give a drug to prevent more heart attacks, but that drug might also make patients bleed too much.
Blood clots are held together by a special protein in the blood called von Willebrand factor, or VWF. VWF acts like a long string that, when uncoiled, becomes sticky and traps platelets, helping clots form quickly. While this is important to stop bleeding when you are injured, it can also lead to dangerous clots inside arteries, causing heart attacks or strokes.
Dr. Ku and his team decided to focus on VWF. They looked for a way to break it down before it could cause a clot. They chose a drug called N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), which is usually used to treat people who overdose on acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol). NAC is known to be safe, inexpensive, and already approved for use in hospitals.
Previous studies had tried using NAC to break down clots after they formed, but this research team wanted to see if it could prevent clots altogether. Postdoctoral researcher Christopher Bresette explained that using an existing drug for a new purpose could speed up how quickly it gets to patients who need it.
The researchers tested NAC in a lab using a model that mimicked blood flowing through a narrowed artery, similar to what happens before a heart attack. They found that NAC completely stopped clots from forming.
They also tested the drug in mice and saw the same result. Even better, the protective effects of NAC lasted up to six hours after the drug had cleared from the blood, keeping arteries clear for longer.
The researchers believe NAC could be especially helpful for people who have already had a heart attack and are at high risk of another one soon after. A simple IV injection of NAC could lower this immediate risk. In the future, doctors might even give NAC as a daily pill to help prevent heart attacks and strokes more generally.
The potential uses of NAC are exciting. It could help prevent embolisms and other types of dangerous blockages too. The research team hopes to begin clinical trials soon and get FDA approval so that NAC can be used to help heart patients as quickly as possible.
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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