15 Feb Roles of Angiotensin Peptides and Recombinant Human ACE2 in Heart Failure
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Gavin Oudit
Gavin Y Oudit, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta
Clinician-Scientist
Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute
Canada Research Chair in Heart Failure
Division of Cardiology
Edmonton, Alberta
Heart specialist Gavin Oudit and his research team discovered a molecule — angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)—that works to restore balance to the pathways responsible for chronic and acute heart failure, including in hearts from patients with advanced heart failure who underwent heart transplants.
In developing the new drug, Oudit and his team discovered to an extent not seen before how the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), which regulates the body’s sodium balance, fluid volume, and blood pressure, is at play in both acute and chronic heart failure. In collaboration with Dr. Oudit, recombinant human ACE2 was made by Apeiron Biologics, purchased by GlaxoSmithKline, and has recently completed phase II clinical trial.
“Now we’ve not only got an entire fingerprint of how a good pathway is defective and how the bad pathway is activated in heart failure patients, we’ve shown how recombinant human ACE2 restores the balance very effectively with little or no side effects,” he said. In human explanted hearts with dilated cardiomyopathy, chymase can generate the pathogenic peptide, angiotensin II, which can be cleaved very effectively by recombinant human ACE2.
About six million Canadians will develop heart failure, a common condition that most often happens after the heart has been damaged or weakened by heart attack or stroke. According to the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation, the two most common causes of HF are heart attacks and high blood pressure. When someone has heart failure, the heart either can’t accept the inflow of blood or pump it out, or both.
“This research is a terrific example of how the university works together synergistically to develop world class research and translate that into medicines that impact patient outcomes,” added Oudit.
The research—conducted at UAlberta’s Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, the Department of Emergency Medicine and the Alberta Transplant Institute— was recently published in the prestigious Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Citation:
Roles of Angiotensin Peptides and Recombinant Human ACE2 in Heart Failure
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Last Updated on February 15, 2017 by Marie Benz MD FAAD