美发现renalase是治疗心脏病的潜在的药物

研究人员发现，一种由肾脏产生的蛋白质renalase，能够起到调节心脏收缩和血压的作用，或许适合用于开发成为治疗严重肾脏和心血管疾病的药物。

美国耶鲁医学院的研究人员检查了114种不同的基因表达，鉴别由肾脏分泌的激素。最终他们将重点放在了renalase这种蛋白质，因为与健康受试者相比较，终末期肾脏疾病患者的血浆浓度急剧下降。这些患者通常只能通过血液透析治疗，他们并发高血压以及心血管疾病。

发表在2005年5月《临床研究期刊 》上的研究结果显示：使用renalase治疗的大鼠心脏收缩性、心率以及血液出现下降，而外周血管张力并没有代偿性的增加。该研究的高级作者、耶鲁医学院肾脏病学教授Gary Desir博士说：“我们希望renalase能够对慢性肾脏疾病的治疗产生影响，就象促红细胞生成素一样；能够改变胸痛和心脏病发作患者的治疗现状。”
 
Kidney Hormone is Potential Heart Disease Drug
 
Researchers have found that renalase, a protein produced by the kidneys that functions as a hormone regulating heart contraction and blood pressure, may be suitable for development into a drug for treatment of advanced kidney and cardiovascular disease.

Investigators at the Yale School of Medicine (New Haven, CT, USA) seeking to identify hormones secreted by the kidneys examined the expression of 114 different genes. Ultimately, they focused on the protein renalase, since its plasma concentration is markedly reduced in patients with end-stage renal disease, as compared with healthy subjects. These patients are often only treatable by dialysis and very often suffer from elevated blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

Results published in the May 2005 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation revealed that rats treated with renalase showed a decrease in cardiac contractility, heart rate, and blood pressure without a compensatory increase in peripheral vascular tone. Senior author Dr. Gary Desir, professor of nephrology at Yale Medical School, said, “We are hopeful that renalase will impact the treatment of chronic kidney disease as favorably as erythropoietin, and change the way in which we treat patients with chest pain and heart attacks.”