Researchers have conducted the first human trials of a new drug, lepodisiran, and found that a single injection reduced lipoprotein(a) – a ‘bad’ cholesterol with a genetic basis – to undetectable levels for almost a year. It has the potential to eliminate a risk factor for cardiovascular disease for which there is currently no treatment.
A type of cholesterol, lipoprotein(a) or Lp(a), shares some characteristics with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the so-called ‘bad’ cholesterol. Like LDL cholesterol, Lp(a) causes plaque to build up in arteries, reducing blood flow to the heart, brain, and other parts of the body, making it a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, because high Lp(a) levels are inherited, they’re largely unaffected by exercise, diet, or medications. There are no current treatments for high Lp(a).
Researchers have conducted the first human trials of a new therapeutic called lepodisiran and found that a single injection of the drug lowered Lp(a) to undetectable levels for almost a year by interfering with its mechanism of production.
“How do you beat a risk factor that’s largely genetic?” said Steven Nissen, lead author of the study. “One highly effective approach is to interfere with the gene, and that’s what lepodisiran and other new therapies are designed to do.”
People with high blood pressure may soon be able to swap the daily pills for an injection every few months. A phase 2 clinical trial has shown that a drug called Zilebesiran can drastically reduce blood pressure for long periods of time with no side effects.
According to the American Heart Association’s 2023 report, some 46.7% of American adults have high blood pressure. If untreated, the condition can lead to a variety of complications, including an increased risk of heart disease. It’s most commonly treated with oral medication like ACE inhibitors or calcium channel blockers, which need to be taken once or twice a day.
An experimental drug could help reduce that disease management burden by only needing to be administered every few months. Administered via subcutaneous injection, similar to insulin for diabetics, Zilebesiran is an RNA interference agent that targets a liver hormone called AGT that regulates blood pressure.
The current trial investigated Zilebesiran’s safety and efficacy in 377 patients with mild-to-moderate high blood pressure, defined as systolic blood pressure of between 135 and 160 mmHg. These patients were randomized into five groups, receiving either 150, 300 or 600 mg of Zilebesiran every six months, 300 mg every three months, or a placebo.
Researchers have developed a biodegradable patch engineered from human cells that could one day be used to correct infant congenital heart defects, limiting the need for multiple invasive surgeries and outlasting current non-living, non-degradable patches.
Globally, congenital heart defects (CHD) affect around nine in every 1,000 babies born. CHD refers to a group of defects present at birth that are caused by the heart not developing properly during pregnancy. While simple defects often don’t need treatment, some complex defects require invasive surgeries performed over a period of years, usually starting in the first year of life.
Several of these surgeries require the implantation of a heart patch, currently made from non-living, non-degradable materials that don’t grow with the patient’s heart and are prone to fail due to an inability to integrate with the heart tissue. To address these issues, researchers at the University of Colorado (CU) Anschutz Medical Campus have developed a biodegradable patch made from the patient’s own cells that is designed to correct CHD, limit invasive surgeries, and outlast current patches.
People diagnosed with a life-threatening cardiac condition have been given new hope, thanks to a ground-breaking new drug that protects the heart developed by researchers from UCL and the Royal Free Hospital.
The trial results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that patients with transthryretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) benefitted significantly when they took the drug Acoramidis.
ATTR-CM is the most commonly diagnosed form of amyloidosis. If left untreated, clumps of protein build up on the heart that prevent it from working properly, ultimately leading to heart failure and death within three to six years.
In the trial, 632 patients with ATTR-CM were given Acoramidis or a placebo for 30 months. The drug works by stabilizing the transthyretin protein to stop it falling apart, thereby preventing amyloid formation.
Results indicated that the drug had clear benefits in terms of mortality, morbidity and physical function compared to the placebo.
UCL's Professor Julian Gillmore, primary investigator of the global trial from UCL Division of Medicine and the Royal Free Hospital, said, "The results from the study are exciting for patients and researchers, as we now have a further effective treatment option for ATTR-CM. In every measure, patients receiving Acoramidis did significantly better than those on the placebo, from a reduction in mortality and cardiovascular hospitalizations to improved physical functioning as measured by a walking test. We are hoping that this drug will become widely available to patients with ATTR-CM by the end of 2024."
Professor Gillmore added, "ATTR-CM used to be thought of as a rare cause of heart failure but the number of people being diagnosed as well as those being diagnosed early in the disease course has dramatically increased, largely due to improvements in imaging which themselves were developed at the National Amyloidosis Center."'
Late-stage failure of the left side of the heart is an often-fatal condition affecting hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. alone. A mechanical heart pump can be a lifesaving intervention for such patients, but the surgery to implant the pump can be risky.
One of the most serious risks is right heart failure, in which the right side of the heart becomes unable to pump enough blood to the lungs. Identifying patients who have a high risk of right heart failure can help doctors better prepare patients for heart pump placement. But predicting who is most at risk has proven difficult.
You can mend a broken heart this Valentine's Day now that researchers have invented a new hydrogel that can be used to heal damaged heart tissue and improve cancer treatments.
University of Waterloo chemical engineering researcher Dr. Elisabeth Prince teamed up with researchers from the University of Toronto and Duke University to design the synthetic material made using cellulose nanocrystals, which are derived from wood pulp. The material is engineered to replicate the fibrous nanostructures and properties of human tissues, thereby recreating its unique biomechanical properties.
The research was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Using the results of a standard blood test and an online tool, you can find out if you are at increased risk of having a heart attack within six months. The tool has been developed by a research group at Uppsala University in the hope of increasing patients' motivation to change their lifestyles.
Their paper is published in the journal Nature Cardiovascular Research.
Heart attacks are the most common cause of death in the world and are increasing globally. Many high-risk people are not identified or do not take their preventive treatment.
Now, researchers led by Professor Johan Sundström at Uppsala University have found that heart attacks can be predicted with a standard blood test. The problem, according to the researchers, is that risk factors have previously been verified in studies involving five to ten years of follow-up, where only factors that are stable over time can be identified.
Flexy cratered wires could reduce infections in heart failure patients
By Ben Coxworth
February 15, 2024
If someone is already suffering from heart failure, they certainly shouldn't have to deal with a serious infection on top of that. A new type of electrical wire, designed for powering implanted heart pumps, could help keep that from happening.
When a heart failure patient is on the waiting list for a donor heart, it's not uncommon for them to receive an implanted electric pump that keeps their existing heart beating normally until it can be replaced. That pump is powered by a connected battery, which is worn on the outside of the body.
The 7-mm-thick cable that connects the two devices runs through a hole in the patient's skin, which is a potential access point for harmful bacteria.
