For years, doctors have tried to lower the risk of heart disease by helping patients manage diabetes, reduce blood pressure, and control cholesterol levels with medications like aspirin and statins.
While these treatments have helped many people, heart disease is still the number one cause of death in the United States. Many people continue to have heart attacks even after following these medical guidelines.
Now, researchers at the University of Michigan have made a major discovery that could explain why this happens. They have identified a protein called suPAR—short for soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor—as a new key factor in the development of heart disease.
SuPAR is made by the immune system, specifically in the bone marrow, and acts like a thermostat for immune activity.
High levels of this protein have been linked to heart disease before, but this is the first time scientists have shown that suPAR can actually cause atherosclerosis, which is the hardening and narrowing of the arteries. Atherosclerosis is a major cause of heart attacks and strokes and affects over a billion people worldwide.
In their study, the researchers looked at data from more than 5,000 people who had no known heart disease. They found that people with higher levels of suPAR were much more likely to develop blocked arteries and suffer heart-related problems—even if they had normal cholesterol or blood pressure.
To understand why some people have high suPAR levels, the team studied the genes of 24,000 people and discovered that a certain genetic variant in a gene called PLAUR was linked to higher suPAR levels in the blood.
They then used a method called Mendelian randomization, which helps scientists understand whether one thing causes another by looking at genetic data from large groups.
They used data from 500,000 people in the UK Biobank and found strong evidence that high suPAR levels caused atherosclerosis. The same results were confirmed using two other large sets of data, making the findings even more convincing.
To further test their theory, the scientists ran experiments on mice. They gave some mice higher levels of suPAR and compared them to mice with normal levels. The mice with more suPAR developed many more artery blockages, proving that suPAR plays a direct role in damaging blood vessels.
This discovery is exciting because suPAR levels are not affected by traditional heart disease treatments. Medications that lower cholesterol or blood pressure don’t reduce suPAR. This means that suPAR could be the missing piece in understanding why some people still get heart disease even when other risk factors are under control.
The researchers are now working on creating new treatments that can lower suPAR levels safely. If successful, these treatments could offer a new way to prevent or slow down heart disease—especially in people who are already taking cholesterol or blood pressure medications but still remain at risk.
This study also adds to earlier findings that link suPAR to kidney disease. Many people with kidney problems also have heart disease, and this may not be a coincidence. In fact, more than two-thirds of people with kidney disease also have heart problems, and about 40% of heart patients have signs of kidney issues.
Led by Dr. Salim Hayek and published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, this groundbreaking study offers new hope. It may help change how doctors treat heart disease and give patients better tools to protect their heart and overall health.
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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