In an exciting finding that holds potential for on-target drug delivery to an afflicted cardiac tissue and prevent heart attacks, Indian scientists have successfully delivered therapeutics to a diseased myocardium through a nanoparticle-tagged peptide, which resulted in improved functioning of the heart.
The scientists have filed a patent for the finding, which was published in the Journal of Controlled Release .
“I am excited. There is huge potential from bench-to-bedside translation”, said Dr. Sagartirtha Sarkar, lead scientist and Associate Professor, Genetics and Molecular Cardiology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta. Observing that there was currently no drug which could treat heart ailment by directly targeting the heart tissues, he said most of the drugs were directed to related problems like diabetes and hypertension. And in most cases, the drugs that treat cardiac conditions have toxic effect to other organs.
While surgical intervention was the only option available so far, the other alternative of gene therapy too was ineffective due to associated problems like tumourigenesis. He said that research has already shown that knocking down P-53, (a tumour suppressing gene) would improve cardiac functioning considerably. But it would at the same time lead to tumours all over the body.
Dr.Sarkar said his lab has been looking at the role of different genes in propagating various regulators that ultimately lead to a heart attack.
In a bid to overcome therapeutic challenge in treating cardiovascular dysfunction, the researchers in this study delivered through a nanoparticle a small peptide that not only penetrated the tissue but was specific to heart cells, cardiomyocytes. .About 80 per cent of the heart cells consist of cardiomyocytes which give contractility.
He said two animal models with compromised heart function due to cardiac hypertrophy were used in the study. Through the nanoparticle-tagged peptide, the drug was delivered through the tail vein. “To our surprise, we found that it not only improved cardiac function significantly but the p-53 gene was suppressed only in heart without causing tumourigenesis in other parts of the body”.
He said they now plan to reduce the size of peptide so that it could become commercially viable. “We are the first ones to report that you can successfully target the heart tissue in a living animal”, he added.
Dr.Utpal Bhadra of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology said for the first time it was shown that cardiovascular disease could be treated with siRNA molecule.
Centre for Chemical Biology, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, CCMB, Department of Chemistry, IIT, Kharagpur and Division of Virology, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, Kolkata are the institutions that collaborated in the study.
