Drug reverses problems leading to heart failure

A drug has been found to reverse damage caused to hearts as a result of high blood pressure, preventing the risk of failure.

The study, conducted by scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center, found that a type of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor evaluated at clinical trials was shown to reverse the effects of autophagy in heart muscle cells of mice.

Autophagy is the process in which cells eat their own proteins when under stress in order to get much needed resources.

Scientists engineered mice with overactive autophagy and induced hypertrophy leading to heart failure and then gave the mice an HDAC inhibitor.

"The heart decreased back to near its normal size, and heart function that had previously been declining went back to normal," explained Dr Joseph Hill, chief of cardiology and director of the Harry S. Moss Heart Center at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study.

 "That is a powerful observation where disease regression, not just disease prevention, was seen," he stressed.

Dr Hill said that the discovery was "the Holy Grail" for a physician-scientist.