▲ (from the left) Professor Young-Hak Kim (Cardiology) and Professor Chang Hoon Ha (Covergence Medicine)
Asan Medical Center team led by Professor Young-Hak Kim of the Division of Cardiology and Professor Chang Hoon Ha of the Department of Convergence Medicine discovered a new therapeutic target related to atherosclerosis.
The research team selected CTRP9, one of the adipokines which is expected to be highly related to atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction, and conducted a study to identify a new therapeutic target.
First, the team treated laboratory cultured, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) with CTRP9 and found that angiogenesis increased by approximately 50%. This means the density and vascular homeostasis of vascular endothelial cells that constitute blood vessels have increased, which also means the blood vessels became healthier and stronger. The team then conducted an analysis of laboratory rats that had the CTRP9 gene removed and found that angiogenesis decreased by 80% compared to before the removal. In addition, when carotid artery ligation was used on laboratory rats to induce atherosclerosis followed by CTRP9 administration, atherosclerosis improved by about 40%. In case of rats with induced myocardial infarction, the symptoms of ischemic left ventricular dysfunction were reduced by 62%. An analysis was performed with blood samples kept for 100 atherosclerosis patients who were actually treated at Asan Medical Center, and the results showed that the blood CTRP9 level of the patient groups of potential coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction was significantly reduced by 70% compared to healthy individuals.
The research findings were recently published in ‘Science Advances,’ a sister journal of ‘Science.