New EU project offers hope to heart attack victims
Developing drugs to promote the growth of blood vessels in damaged and diseased hearts and muscles is the goal of a new EU-funded project called VASOPLUS. The two-year project is funded under the Life Sciences, Genomics and Biotechnology for Health priority of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), and brings together seven partners in Belgium, Germany, Italy and South Africa. Surgical advances such as bypasses and stents mean that doctors are now able to repair the larger blood vessels around the heart when they are diseased or damaged. However, surgeons are unable to repair smaller blood vessels, and so even though the main blood vessels may be functioning properly, parts of the heart muscle will still be suffering from a reduced blood supply, leading to a condition called ischemia. 'As medical treatments improve and fewer people die from heart attacks, more people are surviving with deficient hearts,' explained Professor Desire Collen, CEO and Chairman of project partner ThromboGenics. Currently heart attack patients use vasoprotector drugs to take care of their weakened hearts, but these have only a limited efficiency. The aim of the VASOPLUS project is to develop drugs which would actively promote the formation of new blood vessels in the heart, thereby ensuring this vital organ has a sufficient supply of blood to function normally. As our organs grow, a signalling protein called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) controls the development of blood vessels inside the organ, and so ensures that the fully grown organ will have an adequate blood supply. It was hoped that VEGF could be used to stimulate blood vessel growth in damaged muscles such as the heart. Unfortunately, while VEGF successfully improved the blood supply to damaged hearts, it also brought about severe side effects. The researchers switched their attentions to Placental Growth Factor (PlGF), another growth factor which stimulates blood vessel formation but works in a slightly different way to VEGF. Tests in animals have revealed that PlGF successfully stimulates blood vessel formation, and furthermore it does so without causing the side effects associated with VEGF, even when given at high doses. Through the VASOPLUS project, Prof Collen and his colleagues hope to develop the drug further through to the early clinical trials stage. If the trials are successful, they could significantly improve the quality of life of heart attack patients. With an improved blood supply, their hearts will function better, allowing them to become more active and lowering the risk of further ischemia. The project partners hope the drugs emerging from their research will also help people suffering from claudication, where the limbs suffer from a decreased blood flow. They could also have application in tissue generation and wound healing. 'There is clearly a significant need for these drugs both for heart failure and claudication patients,' commented Prof Collen.
Countries
Belgium, Germany, Italy, South Africa