Swedish scientists propose vaccine against heart disease
A team of Swedish researchers has put forward the theory that a course of vaccinations in childhood could help protect people from heart disease later in life. During a meeting of the European Vascular Genomics Network in December, the team from the Karolinska Institute explained that it had successfully vaccinated mice against atherosclerosis, and now hopes this could lead to preventions and therapies for human atherosclerosis. Atherosclerotic plaques - the formation of fatty deposits in the blood vessels - are at the root of many heart attacks. 'This may open up a new possibility to prevent heart attacks and strokes by vaccination,' said researcher Göran Hansson, from the Karolinska Institute. Coronary heart disease is the world's leading cause of death, claiming more than seven million victims a year ,while the number of atherosclerotic cases in 2000 totalled almost 174 million in the OECD countries. Furthermore, these figures are predicted to increase due to the ever-increasing ageing of the population. Most commonly, heart attacks are caused by blood clots in the heart's arteries that cut off the blood supply to the organ's muscles. What triggers the event tends to be the rupture of fatty plaques lining the arteries. As Professor Hansson explains, this releases a 'dangerous gruel' of phospholipids and proteins that attract blood platelets and trigger the formation of clots. Professor Hansson and his team, as well as many different groups worldwide have been working on ways to prevent the formation of these plaques. The Swedish team injected mice with fragments of OxLDL (oxidised low-density lipoprotein cholesterol particles) and observed that they developed around 70 per cent less plaque than mice injected with saline. Moreover, the vaccination appeared to halt the progression of existing plaques. In collaboration with Jan Nilsson from Lund University in Sweden who was the first to show the benefits of treating mice with OxLDL, Professor Hansson will carry out clinical trials within two years. 'There is a lot to learn,' concluded Professor Hansson, 'but we are well on our way and our preliminary results are promising.'
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