Scientists have discovered the key factors that cause atherosclerosis

, researchers at Yale University in the United States have found unknown factors that lead to arteriosclerosis and plaque growth that ultimately lead to heart disease, according to a study published recently in Nature Metabolism. The researchers say their findings lay the groundwork for a promising treatment that could stop and reverse plaque build-up and disease progression.Current treatments for plaque and atherosclerosis, or atherosclerosis, can slow the condition but not improve the disease. Experts believe this may be due to persistent inflammation of blood vessels. To understand the factors that cause this inflammation, the team focused on a group of proteins called transformational growth factor β (TGF-β), which regulates cells and tissues throughout the body.Using cultured human cells, the researchers found that TGF-β causes inflammation in endothrial cells, the cells that form the inner layer of the arterial wall, but not in other types of cells. Using techniques called single-cell RNA-seq analysis, the expression of each gene in a single cell was measured, and then they showed TGF-β in mouse models to induce inflammation in those cells. The researchers say the findings are noteworthy because TGF-β is known to reduce inflammation in other cells in the body.The researchers also found that inflammation and plaques in blood vessels decreased significantly when the TGF-β gene in endothroty cells was removed.To test this approach as a potential treatment, a team led by Medical Professor Michael Simons used "interfering RNA" (or RNAi) developed by Yale to destroy TGF-β subjects. Interference RNA uses the DNA sequence of the gene itself to turn off or silence the gene. To deliver the drug only to endothial cells in the walls of blood vessels in mice, they used nanoparticles created by their co-authors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This strategy is as effective as genetic techniques in reducing inflammation and plaque.Based on the findings, researchers at Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have launched VasoRX, a biotech company, to develop this targeted approach, using RNAi drugs from nanoparticles as a potential treatment for atherosclerosis in humans. (
Medical Geography
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