Researchers Block Heart Disease In Mice With New Drugs

Washington (dbTechno) - An international team of researchers has come out and stated that they have been able to actually prevent heart disease using a new drug that focuses on genes.

The study was done using a treatment known as Regulus Therapeutics, which was developed by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Isis Pharmaceuticals.

The idea behind the treatment or drug is to block strands of microRNA, or silence them in a sense.

Researchers have found that when heart failure takes place, the number of these miR-21 types of microRNA tripled.

The study was done by looking at all types of microRNA found in human and mouse heart samples.

They were able to figure out that the miR-21 was the key cause of heart failure, and went from there.

They were then able to give mice a drug to block miR-21 and in doing so were able to prevent heart failure in the mice.

Those that did not receive the drug, in the comparison, developed heart disease.

The study was published in the journal Nature.