Heart disease is one of the biggest health problems in the world. In the United States, it causes about one in every four deaths.
A common and dangerous type of heart disease is called coronary artery disease. This happens when plaque—a sticky substance made of fat and cholesterol—builds up inside the arteries.
As plaque builds up, it becomes harder for blood to reach the heart, which can lead to heart attacks or strokes.
Doctors and scientists are always trying to understand this disease better, so they can find new ways to prevent and treat it. Now, a research team at the University of Virginia Health has made an exciting discovery that could help. Their study looked at special cells found in blood vessels and how these cells can unexpectedly make heart disease worse.
These cells, called smooth muscle cells, are found in the walls of arteries. When they are working normally, they help keep arteries strong and flexible. In healthy arteries, they also create a protective layer over plaque. This layer helps stop plaque from breaking apart, which can cause dangerous blockages in the blood vessels.
But researchers found that these same cells can sometimes behave in a harmful way. Instead of protecting the arteries, they can actually help plaque grow. This switch in behavior makes heart disease worse, and scientists have been trying to figure out why it happens.
To learn more, the research team, led by Dr. Mete Civelek and his student Noah Perry, studied smooth muscle cells from people who had received heart transplants. They wanted to find out which genes might be involved in causing the cells to switch from helpful to harmful.
The scientists discovered that how these cells process certain chemicals—like nitrogen and glycogen—might play a big role. Glycogen is a type of sugar that the body stores and uses for energy. If something goes wrong in how the cells use glycogen and nitrogen, it might trigger changes that make the cells harmful instead of helpful.
One sugar, called mannose, caught the team’s attention. They think it might be linked to the changes seen in the smooth muscle cells. While they still need to do more research, this finding opens the door to new ways of understanding and treating heart disease.
Dr. Civelek says that even though medicines like statins (to lower cholesterol) and drugs for blood pressure help reduce the risk of heart disease, they are not enough. Many people still get heart disease, so new treatments are urgently needed.
The team, which also includes researchers Diana Albarracin and Redouane Aherrahrou, plans to keep studying how smooth muscle cells change and what causes it. They hope their work will lead to new treatments that can stop or slow heart disease and help millions of people live healthier lives.
While we wait for future breakthroughs, there are already things people can do to protect their hearts. Getting enough vitamin D and vitamin K might help reduce the risk of heart disease. Eating healthy food, staying active, and reducing stress are also important steps for a healthy heart.
This research brings hope for better treatments ahead. The findings were published in the journal Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about This diabetes drug may increase heart failure risk and Common diabetes drug can also prevent heart and kidney diseases.
For more about heart health, please read studies about Aspirin and heart failure: what you should know and This diabetes drug could protect heart and kidney health.
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