15th January 2007
Resistin, Obesity And Surviving Heart Attack
Medical researchers at the Otago University’s Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences have uncovered
information which links a protein secreted by body fat with reduced heart function following a heart attack.
The little known protein, Resistin, is secreted from fatty tissue around the body, and cells
found in the fat that blocks heart arteries. The researchers have found that Resistin appears to have a negative impact
on the heart’s ability to recover after a cardiac event.
Scientist, Dr Sarah Rothwell, from the Cardioendocrine Research Group says that fatty tissue may play a much more
negative role in body chemistry than first thought.
”We’re now finding that all kinds of bad proteins and hormones can come from fatty tissue in obese people. This isn’t
just fat which sits in the body and does nothing. It appears to be having active negative effects on the body, and
Resistin is part of this process.”
Dr Rothwell’s research, which has just been published, demonstrates for the first time that when Resistin levels are
high in the blood, and the heart undergoes a major cardiac event such as a heart attack, it takes much longer to recover
and doesn’t contract nearly so well to enable blood to be pumped around the body.
“Our study shows the heart only recovers 68% of its previous ability to contract when Resistin levels are high. Normally
it would recover to about 90%, so this reduction in contraction has major implications for survivability following a
cardiac event,” she explains.
Dr Rothwell says another interesting finding is that Resistin seems to be linked with the release of a potentially
harmful protein, TNF Alpha, which has already been associated with inflammation and increased heart cell death.
These findings add more important information to the cascading effects of heart proteins and hormones which have been
revealed over the last 15 years by the Christchurch Cardioendocrine Research Group, directed by Professor Mark Richards.
The CCERG is currently being considered for a Centre of Research Execellence grant, in association with other leading
heart researchers in NZ.
Dr Rothwell and colleague Dr Chris Pemberton, who has recently received a Sir Charles Hercus Research Fellowship from
the Health Research Council, are about to extend this research to look at patients’ survivability following a cardiac
event who also have high Resistin levels. They say Resistin may eventually be able to be used as a biomarker for
diagnosis and treatment during heart attack.
“It may also be possible to develop a drug to block Resistin and prevent its negative effect on people with heart
problems, “says Dr Rothwell.
This research was funded by the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation and the Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust.
ENDS