Resistin, Obesity And Surviving Heart Attack

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

© Scoop Media