University of Reading researchers have been awarded funding by Heart Research UK to discover new ways of treating heart failure.
This will allow the Cardiac Signalling Team, based at the University’s Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic research, to find out why and how heart muscle cells do not divide and instead choose to die. The team, led by Professor Angela Clerk, will study all the protein kinases found in heart muscle cells, over the next two years. As enzymes, the kinases make ideal ‘targets’ for developing new drugs that prevent them from working or change what they do. It is hoped that this work will lead to new treatments for heart failure and allow the heart tissue to regenerate. Studies show that nearly 80,000 people a year die from heart disease in the UK and more than 750,000 people in the country live with heart failure. The research project will provide crucial insights into why and how heart muscle cells stop dividing and do not regenerate. Prof. Clerk said: “This research will enable us to look at all 300-plus kinases for the first time ever. This is good news for current sufferers as we all aim to bring new therapies to the clinic in the coming few years.”
