A scientist at Leeds whose research is challenging conventional thinking on how the cholesterol-reducing drugs statins benefit cardiac patients, has secured funding to further investigate her findings.

Dr Sarah Calaghan from the University’s Faculty of Biological Sciences has been awarded £80,000 from Heart Research UK to progress her preliminary evidence that statins are directly affecting the heart muscle cell.

“For a long time the cardiovascular benefits of statins were considered to be due to reducing cholesterol in the blood, which prevents the build-up of plaques in arteries - a major cause of heart attacks and strokes. But more recently it’s becoming clear that this is not the only way statins work,” she says.

The widely acclaimed family of drugs are known to have beneficial effects for patients at risk of cardiovascular disease and those with established cardiovascular disease, saving up to 9,000 lives a year(1).

Dr Calaghan’s research suggests that statins are actually having a direct effect on heart cells, specifically the caveolae - tiny indentations in the cell membrane. Caveolae contain signalling molecules that Dr Calaghan has shown to have an active role in controlling the pumping mechanism of the heart.

“Caveolae need cholesterol to exist and our research has shown that if cholesterol is removed from the membrane then the caveolae will collapse. This disrupts the function of caveolae-based signalling molecules and affects the heart’s pumping mechanism and its ability to change its force of contraction,” she explains.

In a healthy person, the heart’s rate and force of contraction is increased by adrenaline during exercise or stress – producing what is known as the ‘fight or flight’ response.

“We know that statins are beneficial,” says Dr Calaghan. “But it’s really important to know exactly why and how they are affecting the heart cells, since the hearts of patients with cardiac disease respond differently to adrenaline than healthy hearts.

“Our new research hopes to determine exactly how statins affect caveolae and what impact this has on the way the heart behaves both at rest and during conditions of stress or exercise.”

“If we can do this it will help us to understand the disease process better, and this in turn has important implications for the development of new ways to treat heart diseases.”

The 18 month research project will be conducted with colleague Dr Karen Porter from the University’s Institute for Cardiovascular Research and examine the effects of the most commonly prescribed statin, Simvastatin.

References:
(1) Professor Roger Boyle, Department of Health’s National Director for Coronary Heart Disease. Roger Boyle, the government's National Director for Coronary Heart Disease, said: "Statin prescribing has been rising by 30% year-on-year in the NHS since publication of the Coronary Heart Disease NSF in 2000, and we estimate that this is responsible for saving up to 9,000 lives a year.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4997390.stm

Further information from:
Jo Kelly, campuspr, T: 0113 258 9880, M: 07980 267756, E: jokelly@campuspr.co.uk
Guy Dixon, University of Leeds press office, T: 0113 343 8299, E: g.dixon@leeds.ac.uk

Notes to editors
Dr Calaghan is a British Heart Foundation-funded Research Fellow in the Institute of Membrane and Systems Biology. Her research interests encompass several diverse, yet fundamental, aspects of cardiac function including The response of the heart to stretch, the role of the cardiac cell cytoskeleton in health and disease, how contractile proteins affect contraction and the importance of the extracellular matrix and integrins in cardiac cell signaling.

Simvastatin is marketed under several brand names around the world. These include Zocor®, Denan (Germany), Liponorm, Sinvacor, Sivastin (Italy), Lipovas (Japan), Lodales (France), Zocord (Austria and Sweden), Zimstat, Simvahexal and Lipex (Australia).

In July 2007, Professor Roger Boyle publicly advocated a daily prescription of statins to every man over the age of 50 and every woman over 60 to protect against heart disease and stroke and reduce the thousands of deaths a year from cardiovascular diseases.

The University of Leeds’ Faculty of Biological Sciences is one of the largest in the UK, with over 150 academic staff and over 400 postdoctoral fellows and postgraduate students. The Faculty has been awarded research grants totalling some £60M and funders include charities, research councils, the European Union and industry. Each of the major units in the Faculty has the highest Grade 5 rated research according to the last government (HEFCE) Research Assessment Exercise, denoting research of international standing. The Faculty is also consistently within the top three for funding from the government’s research councils, the BBSRC and NERC. www.fbs.leeds.ac.uk

Heart Research UK was founded in 1967. Over the last 40 years, it has funded many of the ground breaking medical breakthroughs we take for granted, including the first ever sucessful UK heart transplants and the development of heart valves. Heart Research UK currently funds grants worth more than £2.3million at more than 32 universities and hospitals around the UK and focuses on funding innovative, pioneering research and supports young researchers on their first steps into heart research. www.heartresearch.org.uk