New drugs to slash the risk of stroke and heart attacks could be developed after scientists discovered how the body regulates blood pressure.
The breakthrough unveils a key mechanism in the cells which helps healthy people reduce their blood pressure naturally.
Scientists discovered that blood pressure is dramatically reduced when a specific protein – called ERAP1 – is released from cells and enters the blood stream.
The discovery could lead to a medication for people with....
high blood pressure – also known as hypertension – who are at a higher-than-usual risk of heart attacks, strokes and type 2 diabetes.
If pharmaceutical firms could develop drugs that prompt the release of the protein, they could find a new way to quickly treat people with blood pressure.
The discovered that the protein works by breaking down a key hormone called angiotensin II – a peptide chemical which causes blood vessels to constrict.
As the arteries and veins tighten, blood pressure is raised.
The ERAP1 protein counters this effect by digesting the hormone, reducing its levels in the blood stream and stopping it from constricting the blood vessels.
Research team leader Katsuhiko Mikoshiba, of the Riken Brain Science Institute, Japan, said: ‘With this new discovery we now know more about how angiotensin II is normally removed from the blood to lower blood pressure, and we have a new system to study for potential therapies.’
The researchers made the breakthrough after they discovered that mice with high levels of the ERAP1 protein had unusually low blood pressure.
Scientist Chihiro Hisatsune, also of Riken Brain Science Institute, said: ‘We noticed that the mice had similar defects to those that lack angiotensin II - the peptide hormone that acts to raise blood pressure.
‘We measured their blood pressure and were surprised to find it was about 20 per cent lower than in normal mice.’
Several medications for high blood pressure already exist, including some that target the enzyme that produces angiotensin II.
The scientists hope that a new medication may be more effective – instead of stopping the production of the hormone, it would simply boost a naturally occurring mechanism that reduces its concentration in the blood stream to normal levels.
Dr Mikoshiba said: ‘Current therapies for hypertension target the enzyme that produces angiotensin II.
‘Our results open the door to alternative approaches that target the activity of proteins like ERAP1.
‘We hope our results can lead to the development of new strategies for treating people with blood-pressure disorders.’
The research was published in the journal Molecular Cell.
- DM
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