Exploring drugs in vitro to aid patients' treatment after heart attack
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Pharmacological induction of reparative vascularisation for treatment of myocardial ischemia: an in vitro study
IRAS ID
332373
Contact name
Elisa Avolio
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Heart attack is one of the leading causes of mortality in the UK and worldwide. During a heart attack or myocardial infarction (MI), a clot blocks the blood circulation in one of the heart's coronary arteries. Million cardiac cells die at the infarct site, and many others are put at risk in the surrounding area, causing the heart to pump blood less efficiently into the circulation. It is essential to re-establish blood flow to the heart as quickly as possible to preserve heart function. Current treatments consist of reopening the blocked coronary artery through balloon angioplasty and stent application or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), but it is also vital to potentiate small blood vessels bypassing the occlusion. Currently, there are no drugs capable of triggering the formation of new blood vessels after MI, which therefore remains an unmet clinical need. With this research project, we want to instruct special heart cells called pericytes, to build new blood vessels after a heart attack (phenomenon called angiogenesis). Pericytes are positioned around blood vessels and are responsible for instructing the formation of new blood vessels after injury. Unfortunately, pericyte function is defective in older people and after MI. We will extract pericytes from left ventricle myocardial biopsies harvested from patients during CABG surgery. We will use pericytes in test tubes to screen for drugs able to correct and boost the pericyte proangiogenic function. We will test hundreds of drugs currently used to treat cardiovascular and other diseases. We aim to identify drugs capable of reawakening the pericyte capacity to build blood vessels. Patients could be treated with these new drugs promptly after a heart attack. If successful, this approach will restore the blood supply to the heart, preventing the development of heart failure, a miserable condition associated with a high risk of death.
REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/SW/0069
Date of REC Opinion
22 Jul 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion