Preventing Cardiovascular Disease with ‘Good Guy’ Peptides

University of Alberta researchers present the first medical treatment to protect people from cardiovascular disease by boosting the body’s natural defenses. The team, led by Gavin Oudit, found a link between a peptide called apelin and a reduction of abdominal aortic aneurysms that dramatically reduced mortality in mice. The research was published Wednesday in PNAS.

Current treatment for aortic aneurysms is limited to behavior changes (e.g., quitting smoking) or surgical repair. There are no medical or pharmaceutical treatments that have been effective at reducing the growth rate of aortic aneurysms, but Oudit is hoping to change that with a synthetic form of apelin that can be delivered to patients intravenously.

For Oudit, the fight against cardiovascular diseases can be broken down into ‘good guys’—like apelin, a naturally occurring peptide found in several organs such as the heart, liver, brain, and lungs—and ‘bad guys,’ like hormones or chemicals that must be reduced or blocked.

“We’ve become very good at blocking the bad guys, particularly using drugs like ACE inhibitors or beta-blockers, to treat symptoms,” Oudit says. “But our research has focused on developing a method to enhance the good guys, to make them work better and protect people from cardiovascular disease in the first place, including heart attacks and heart failure.”

The team performed a series of tests using mice with aortic aneurysms and aneurysm specimens from humans, and they found a significant health improvement in mice that were treated with apelin versus those who were not. None of the treated mice died, whereas 50% of the untreated mice did.

Although apelin showed promise as a treatment option, the team had to overcome the challenge of creating a stable version that wasn’t immediately broken down by other enzymes in the body. They identified the enzymes that attack and degrade apelin and then developed a way to protect the apelin molecule to prevent the enzymes from breaking it down too quickly.

While Oudit’s team focused on abdominal aortic aneurysms in the study, the researchers say they’ve seen evidence that the apelin analog can help in other areas of the body as well. Oudit predicts that in as little as two years, his team will have a version of the apelin analog that they will be able to test on humans.