Anemia drug potential to protect type II diabetics from heart failure

Almost 200,000 patients are treated in the UK each year for a heart attack, of which around a fifth also have diabetes, and 90% of them have type II diabetes.

Research at the University of Oxford, funded by the BHF and Diabetes UK, has discovered that after a heart attack, the HIF protein helps heart cells to survive. However fats accumulate within the heart muscle of diabetics and stop the HIF protein from becoming active, exposing them to the risk of lasting heart muscle damage and heart failure after a heart attack. There are several drugs in phase III clinical trials at the moment that are known to activate HIF. These trials are to treat patients with anaemia, however this research suggests that they could also be given to diabetics following a heart attack to help prevent them from developing heart failure.

Research lead and BHF research fellow at Oxford University, Lisa Heather, said: “After a heart attack, people with Type 2 diabetes are more likely to develop heart failure more quickly, but we have not fully understood the reasons why that is the case. What we have shown with this research is that the metabolism of people with Type 2 diabetes means they have higher levels of fatty acids in the heart. This prevents signals going to the heart protective protein telling it to ‘kick-in’ after a heart attack. But what is perhaps most exciting, is that existing drugs – currently being trialled for people with blood disorders – can reverse that effect and allow the protein to be activated after a heart attack.  This opens the possibility that, in the near future, we could also use these drugs to help treat heart attacks in people with Type 2 diabetes.”