Scientists Study Heart Transplant Protein
Posted on: Tuesday, 1 May 2007, 12:00 CDT
An Austrian study has found disabling a specific protein reduces inflammation involved in organ dysfunction rates in heart transplant patients.
Researchers led by Dr. Felix Aigner at the Innsbruck Medical University identified a protein known as Lipocalin-2, or Lcn-2, as potentially responsible for regulating the body's inflammatory response during heart transplants.
The scientists said their identification of Lcn-2 could be a first step toward reducing the inflammatory response involved in heart transplantations and increasing the success rate of such procedures.
Building on earlier work, the study found Lcn-2 is released by inflammatory cells attacking transplanted hearts in mice and suggests the protein is responsible for attracting further inflammatory response. Inflammation was found to decrease dramatically in mice in which the production of Lcn-2 was genetically disabled.
The study appears in the American Journal of Transplantation.
Source: United Press International
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