Across the whole spectrum of acute coronary syndromes and in patients undergoing PCI and stenting, dual anti-platelet therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel is the current recognised standard of care. However, significant variation in response to clopidogrel is observed between patients, with those with lesser degrees of platelet inhibition being at higher risk of adverse cardiovascular […]
Category: Molecular Cardiology
Lp-PLA2 Inhibiton Decreases Complex Plaque Development
Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is an enzyme that is produced by inflammatory cells in atherosclerotic lesions. It has previously been shown to be present at higher levels in the core of ruptured atherosclerotic plaques, although it was unclear whether this was merely an association or whether the enzyme played a key role in plaque vulnerability. […]
Short telomere length associated with family history of premature myocardial infarction
Telomeres are specialised DNA-protein structures at the end of chromosomes, and are vital to preserve chromosome integrity and stability. Telomeres are known to shorten with age, but prematurely shortened telomeres have been found in cells from human atherosclerotic plaques, and a previous relationship between telomere length and coronary artery disease has been described. […]
Alda-1 can protect against ischaemic damage
The discovery of the protective effects of myocardial preconditioning has stimulated much research into the molecular mechanism of this phenomenon. A number of cardiac proteins have been found whose levels or state of phosphorylation change with cardioprotection, but do any of these play a critical role? […]
Metabolic assays of ischaemia show early promise
Metabolic technologies allow the profiling of low-molecular weight biochemicals such as amino acids, sugars, and lipids that are substrates and products in important biological processes, such as ischaemia. To examine whether this techology could be used to allow earlier detection of myocardial ischaemia and infarction, Lewis et al. applied mass spectrometry-based metabolite profiling to 36 […]