Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of death in most Western countries. Another work for Cardiovascular Disease, Atherosclerosis occurs when inflammatory compounds such as nuclear factor-B (NF-ĸB) allow fatty plaque to stick to artery walls, eventually causing stroke or heart attack. An international team of scientists from Spain, the United States, England, and Germany studied the anti-inflamatory effects of an NLS Peptide, which is a protein specifically coded to fight the inflamatory effects of NF-kB. So far, treatment of Cardiovascular disease using the NLS peptide have greatly reduced plaque build-up in the cardiovascular systems of mice. Even better, the treatment has been succesful both in the early stage (if the disease was discovered early in the patient) and in late stages of plaque development. Although NF-kB only inflames the artery, as lead investigator Carmen Gomez-Guerrero said, "[NF-kB effects] early phases characterized by lipid modification, chemotaxis, adhesion of leukocytes, monocyte differentiation, foam cell formation, and inflammatory cytokine expression [all the way] to more advanced lesions involving cell death, migration and proliferation of VSMCs, and fibrous cap formation." The good news is, this new protein looks like it can neutrilize the threat that NF-kB poses.
NOS themes:
-Collaboration: Scientists from all over the world collaborated on this study
-Motivation: Cardiovascular disease is a dangerous ailment that kills thousands of people every year
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2013/04/17/cellpermeable_peptide_shows_promise_for_controlling_cardiovascular_disease.html
No comments:
Post a Comment