Harvard Researchers Discover Heart Drug Prevents Blood Vessel Buildup

Harvard researchers are reporting good news for heart disease patients--a new drug that may prevent atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty tissue in blood vessels.

Endostain, a drug developed b Harrvard researchers in Andrus Professor of Pediatric Surgery M. Judah Folkman's lab at Children's Hospital, recently made national headlines because of its touted effectiveness fighting cancer.

Now a new report in the American Heart Association journal Ciruculation documents the drug's potential to prevent plaque build-up in the areteries of mivce.

Endostain, a protein derived from the common body protein collagen, prevents the growth of small capillaries that nourish cell growth .If fights cancer by cutting off the blood supply to tumors, stopping growth of new cancerous cells. The same technique of cutting of the capillary blood supply has now been shown to reduce the accumulation of palques, fatty tissue like cholesteerol which builds up and blocks blood flow in the arteries and leads to heart disease.

"The goal [of the drug] is to delay the diseases progression by using these kind of inhibitors" said Instructor in Medicine Karen S. Moulton, the primary author of the paper and researcher in Folkman's lab.

So far the drug has only been tested on micee, but researchers are interested in ascertaining its effects on humans.

"I think that anyone who deals with a problem as prevalent as atherosclerosis will be intrigued by the option Folkman's labn has presented." said Jeffery M.Isner, who wrote an editorial to accompany the research paper in Circulation.

Whether [endostain] can be implemented [ to help humans] based on the animal studies remains to be seen," said Isner, who is chief of vaascular medicine and cardiovascular research at St.Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston and a professor of medicine and pathology at Tufts University.

Moulton spaculated atherosclerosis-focused endostain tests on humans may be put on the back burner while the drug tested on cancer patients.

However, according to Moulton, another drug tested in Folkman's lab, TNP_470, has similar effects as endstain on retarding plaque buildup and is being used in human trials. Moluton said she is interested in continuing research on heart disease to investigate the mechasnism behind the success of endostain and TNP-470.

"I am challenged by what the next questions are trying to establish why inhibiting angiogenesis [growth of blood vessels] in tha wall will inhibit the disease process," Moulton said. "[The drug] may not just be choking off the blood supply."