Anaemia drug could be repurposed to help heart attack patients
Drugs currently undergoing development to treat anaemia could be repurposed to help prevent people with Type 2 diabetes from developing heart failure, according to new research funded by the BHF and Diabetes UK.
In the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers found that, after a heart attack, a protein called HIF acts to help heart cells survive.
Researchers from the University of Oxford treated diabetic rats with a drug known to activate the HIF protein, and were able to encourage the heart to recover after a heart attack. Further work is needed to see whether the same process can be replicated in people.
