A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that a gene that was known to be related to narcolepsy may also play a key role in reducing the risk of heart failure. Researchers at Stanford University identified the gene after doing extensive testing on the heart functions of mice.
Heart failure is a major cause of death and serious disability in the U.S. Caring for such patients costs more than $40 billion a year. Yet, despite this impact on morbidity and mortality, few new treatments have been developed over the past ten years. They know medical treatments work for some people, but in others they fail, sometimes leading to heart transplantation. The challenge has been to understand the genetic makeup of heart failure patients who fail treatment and those who get better.
In the early period of the research study, they found that a particular gene that is near the region of the brain that relates to sleep, appetite, and blood pressure may also impact how heart cells react to medication. Using a mouse model that mimics heart failure, the researchers found a particular receptor protein and its binding partner have a protective function in preserving heart tissue.
One of the researchers said: “the exciting thing is that this gene is in a completely different neuro-hormonal axis — a completely different pathway than what has been looked at previously.” Another researcher commented that “the connection between sleep and the heart is fascinating,” although it has been known for many years that sleep apnea is bad for the heart. The study’s conclusion raises some concern over whether insomnia medications that work by blocking the function of the sleep receptor may cause harm to the heart, although this has not yet been studied.
This study, like so many others, highlights how medicine is moving more and more in the direction of understanding the genetic and cellular basis for illness and health. The “person in the white coat” who may shape how medicine works is more likely now to be found in a laboratory rather than a clinic.
