A global team of scientists has made an exciting discovery that could change how we treat heart disease.
They found that cholesterol doesn’t just clog blood vessels—it can also sneak into the heart’s energy centers, called mitochondria, and cause serious damage.
Even better, they created a new type of immunotherapy that can fix this damage and help the heart produce energy again.
The research was led by Dr. Vicenta Llorente-Cortés at the Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona and was published in the Journal of Lipid Research.
The heart works non-stop to pump blood, and it needs a lot of energy to do this. Heart cells, called cardiomyocytes, have many mitochondria—tiny engines that turn food into energy. In fact, mitochondria take up about one-third of each heart cell.
These mitochondria use a process called oxidative phosphorylation to make ATP, which is the main energy source for heartbeats.
But the study found that when cholesterol builds up inside heart cells, it causes big problems. The cholesterol gets inside the mitochondria in the form of cholesteryl esters. This happens through a protein called the LRP1 receptor on the surface of heart cells.
In people with obesity, diabetes, or high cholesterol, this process speeds up, and more cholesterol enters the mitochondria. Over time, this damages the mitochondria and stops them from making enough energy.
Dr. Llorente-Cortés explained that this is a new and harmful way cholesterol affects the heart. “It’s not just in the arteries—it’s inside the cells, stopping the heart from making energy and leading to heart failure,” she said.
To solve this problem, the scientists created a new treatment. It uses special antibodies to block the part of the LRP1 receptor that lets cholesterol into the mitochondria. These antibodies stop the damage before it happens.
The team tested the treatment on rabbits with high cholesterol. They used advanced tools to check how the heart cells were working before and after treatment.
The results were amazing. After using the antibodies, cholesterol levels in the mitochondria dropped. The mitochondria looked healthier under a microscope, and their inner folds—called cristae—were restored. These folds are important for making energy.
The treatment also helped the mitochondria make more ATP. This means the heart could produce more energy and work better.
Another benefit was that the treatment improved how mitochondria and fat stores interacted inside the cells. This balance helps the heart use fat and energy more effectively.
Dr. Llorente-Cortés said this therapy is a brand-new way to treat heart disease. “We’re going inside the cell, into the mitochondria, to protect where the heart’s energy is made,” she said.
This research could lead to a new treatment for heart failure and other problems caused by cholesterol, like heart issues linked to obesity.
Right now, heart disease treatments focus on lowering blood pressure and cholesterol in the blood. But they don’t fix the damage inside heart cells. This new approach does.
The study fills an important gap. Many people still have heart problems even with current treatments. This therapy could go deeper and help the heart recover its energy.
The next step is to test the treatment in people. If successful, it could become an important tool to fight heart disease and help millions of patients.
If you care about heart health, please read studies that apple juice could benefit your heart health, and Yogurt may help lower the death risks in heart disease.
For more information about health, please see recent studies that Vitamin D deficiency can increase heart disease risk, and results showing Zinc and vitamin B6 linked to lower death risk in heart disease.
The full study is in the Journal of Lipid Research.
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