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A discovery by scientists at Heriot-Watt University helped prevent heart failure of stents.
Thousands of people across the UK have stents inserted constantly to dilate their arteries and keep the blood flowing, which treats the underlying cause of coronary heart disease.
However, about 5% of patients suffer from lesions and inflammation of the artery walls, resulting in stent failure and annual readmission to the hospital.
Dr. Stephen Yarwood, a biochemist at the Heriot-Watt Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering, has identified a molecule to fight inflammation.
The research, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and the Scottish University Life Sciences Association (SULSA), is expected to reduce the number of stents rejected by patients' bodies and badociated costs for the NHS.
Dr. Yarwood said, "Our mission is to find new formulations for stents that make inflammation and failure of the stent much less likely.
"We knew that an enzyme called EPAC1, which is found in the cells of blood vessels, extinguishes inflammatory signals, in the manner of a molecular switch.
"We have tested thousands of chemicals that can be good starting points for drug discovery projects, but with no known use to date. We have discovered that a molecule called I942 can regulate the activity of EPAC1.
"We now know that this molecule can prevent or reduce inflammation. Our next task is to make it more efficient by modifying its structure.
"It's like a key – we know it slips into the lock, we now have to change its shape to open the door."
Dr. Yarwood used the facilities of the European Screening Center, Newhouse, to test thousands of chemicals to determine if any of them could target EPAC1.
Dr. Stuart McElroy, Head of Biology at the European Screening Center, said, "This collaboration combines Dr. Yarwood's knowledge of the biology of EPAC1 with our experience of using drug discovery to develop novel therapeutics. drug research tools.
"We used BioAscent's Compound Cloud Chemical Library and its unique robotic capabilities to build a smart display of a subset of 5,000 chemicals only. We then badyzed the chemical structures of promising candidates to select similar molecules in the complete library to identify I942. This is an excellent example of the power of BioAscent technology. "
James Cant, director of BHF Scotland, added: "Since the creation of the BHF, the number of people dying from coronary heart disease in Scotland has more than halved.
"However, CHD remains the deadliest in Scotland. It kills more than 6,700 people each year and an estimated 240,000 people live in Scotland with conbad heart disease.
"Our pioneering research on stents and new treatments for conbad heart disease has done a lot, but we want to do more. That's why we are funding important projects like this, led by Dr. Stephen Yarwood and his team at Heriot-Watt University, to improve techniques and develop new procedures for the future. . "
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