New therapeutic targets for CV disease
junctions play a role in atherosclerosis, which may provide new
therapeutic targets for cardiovascular disease.
It is known that oxidized lipids produced by the body initiate a cascade of responses in the vascular system that cause an inflammatory response and can lead to the development of atherosclerosis, affecting 5 million people in the US.
However, the reason that these oxidized lipids cause an inflammatory response has previously been unknown.
The >Nastech scientists have now found that that oxidized lipids can activate tight junctions - which are like gates that connect the cells in the body - and it is this opening and closing of the tight junctions between cells that can cause an inflammatory response.
"We believe that our original research demonstrates an interaction between oxidized lipids and tight junctions of cells, raising the prospect for a new therapeutic approach to cardiovascular disease," said a company statement.
The company, which also develops therapeutics using advanced molecular biology-based drug delivery technologies, is now looking at ways to develop a drug that prevents artherosclerosis, by blocking oxidized lipids from activating the tight junctions and thus preventing the associated inflammatory response.
If the company can manage to develop such a drug, it may have blockbuster potential. The huge success of the world's biggest-selling medicine, Pfizer's Lipitor (atorvastatin), with annual sales in excess of $11bn (€9.3bn), has come despite the fact it has only modest effects on the progression of atherosclerosis.
This new data comes from the Nastech's transmucosal peptide and protein drug delivery program and was recently presented at The American Society for Cell Biology in San Francisco, California.
