UCSD research drug may help fatal lung disease
LA JOLLA - A drug currently undergoing tests for use in Alzheimer’s patients also shows promise for reversing pulmonary arterial hypertension, a fatal lung disease, it was announced Sunday. A University of California San Diego Health Sciences team led by Dr. Patricia Thistlethwaite, a professor of surgery and cardiothoracic surgeon, isolated a protein called Notch-3 that in laboratory mice appears to linked to the disease.
The illness is a type of high blood pressure that affects the lungs and kills 20,000 Americans annually.
The enzyme y-secretase inhibitor, currently being tested for use against Alzheimer’s, hinders Notch-3 and reverses the condition in mice, Thistlethwaite said.
Current treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension focuses on dilating affected blood vessels. The UCSD discovery could open the door to a new therapy that focuses on stemming the growth of abnormal cells that thicken arterial walls.
A paper authored by the professor is set to be published in the online edition of the journal Nature Medicine, according to the school.
Tags: Dr. Patricia Thistlethwaite, enzyme y-secretase inhibitor, Nature Medicine, SDNN, UCSD, University of California San Diego Health Sciences
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Comment by: Elsa C. Posted: October 31, 2009, 6:13 am
is this article stating that a patient with alzheimer’s who was testing this drug also had pulmonary hypertension and the hypertension was reversed? cured? did doctor’s see a reversal of the hypertension in the lungs along with a decrease in the hardening of the walls? i am a CREST patient of 10 years and developed pulmonary hypertension this year. i am willing to take a drug with a promising outlook. at 50, i am not ready to throw in the towel. we need more researd and a cure NOW. GOOD LUCK TO BOTH RESEARCHERS AND PATIENTS.