$6.2 million to fund study of heart attacks in people with no obvious risk factors
Suresh Tyagi, Ph.D., studies homocysteine, an amino acid byproduct that can damage blood vessels and lead to heart attacks.
University of Louisville professor Suresh Tyagi, Ph.D., recently received grants totaling more than $4.1 million from the National Institutes of Health to study an amino acid that may explain why roughly one fourth of all heart attacks occur in people with no known risk factors. The NIH support, combined with a $2.1 million grant awarded to Tyagi for 2004 through 2008, will help propel his research forward as he seeks to understand why some people without risk factors such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure suddenly experience heart attacks. Tyagi studies homocysteine, an amino acid byproduct that plays a critical role in damaging arteries. "Vascular cells, like those found on the inside of our coronary arteries, are particularly vulnerable," Tyagi said.
Homocysteine causes damage to the inner walls of blood vessels, often resulting in health issues such as high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, cardiac rhythm problems and vascular dementia, a precursor of Alzheimer's disease. Tyagi calls homocysteine "the cholesterol of the 21st century." His team hopes to develop genetic tests to identify people who are more susceptible to blood vessel damage and to better understand genetic variations that cause otherwise healthy individuals to be at a greater risk for a fatal heart attack and other cardiovascular diseases. "We are trying to look at the interaction between genes, diet and other factors in the environment and find ways to enhance the body's ability to clear homocysteine from the blood vessels," he said. Already, Tyagi's team has found a promising enzyme that may help. The team also is looking for ways to utilize gene therapy to lower homocysteine levels in people at risk for this kind of damage.
