• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Study into Lipids, Heart Disease Catches Attention of Drug Firms: Researcher

Posted on: Friday, 9 June 2006, 00:00 CDT

By M. Paul Jackson, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

Jun. 8--The Lipid Science Program at the Piedmont Triad Research Park is conducting studies on the molecular factors behind heart disease, a key way to treat major illnesses.

But the program is also emerging from the shadow of its upstairs neighbor. The program, based in the Biotechnology Research Facility I, is just one floor below the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

The institute, headed by Dr. Anthony Atala, a urologist at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, made worldwide news in April when Atala's team announced that it had successfully rebuilt human bladders for young patients.

The lipid program had been out of the spotlight, but that could be coming to an end. Some pharmaceutical companies have shown an interest in investing in the program's research -- an important money stream for developing new treatments, said Lawrence Rudel, the director of the lipid-science program.

Rudel declined to identify the companies.

"It's exciting for someone in my position to think that we can make a contribution" and attract backers willing to support the research, Rudel said. "You don't always see that."

The lipid program, based on the third floor of the new research building, is researching the effects of lipids and cholesterol in the blood and how it can lead to heart disease, the country's No. 1 killer. More than 70 people work there.

Cholesterol, made by the liver, is used by the body to insulate nerves and make cell membranes. But because the body makes its own cholesterol, too much dietary cholesterol can cause excess levels in the body, which can lead to atherosclerosis.

Last year, Rudel discovered an enzyme called ACAT2, which can alter the molecular structure of cholesterol, causing it to build up in blood vessels. Designing drugs to inhibit that enzyme could reduce unhealthy cholesterol levels, Rudel said.

The potential treatment could be similar to statin drugs, which also inhibit the production of cholesterol in the liver, he said.

"It's big-time stuff," he said.

Research-park officials agreed. Conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes are intricately linked, and finding treatments for those illnesses will pay dividends, said Christopher Price, the executive director of the research park.

"The rise of cardiovascular disease and diabetes in places you would never think of is just remarkable," he said. "This is something that is going to be so very important to the overall management of the costs of health care, because those three things are really the core of chronic diseases around the world."

Rudel's program includes researchers from the medical school's pathology, biochemistry and internal-medicine departments. It moved into the research park from the medical school in April.

Rudel said he and his team will continue to explore ways to treat conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Finding treatments for those conditions remains a challenge, he said.

"When you do this kind of work, that's the real reward," Rudel said. "You do this because of the call of the unknown."

-----

To see more of the Winston-Salem Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.journalnow.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Source: Winston-Salem Journal

More News in this Category