Mutation found that cures heart disease

djf, with references

[djf]

In 1980, a man from a small town called Limone Sul Garda in northern Italy went to a doctor for some problem, not heart related.



Testing of his blood showed very high levels of triglycerides, and very low levels of HDL, the good form of cholesterol. By all rights, the man should have either been dead from, or in imminent danger of a heart attack.

But his arteries were clear.
Analysis of his blood showed he had a very special form of Lipoprotein, a type of HDL. And further work with this particular type of Lipoprotein revealed astounding results.

In some of the initial small scale tests of this form of HDL, volunteers were given one shot a week of it, for a trial that lasted five weeks.

Measurements of the blockage in their arteries showed that total blockage was reduced by 4% in five weeks. While this may not sound like much, to a cardiologist, it's equivalent to taking years off of your cardiac age.

Further testing and analysis with animals show fantastic results. While standard HDL's are desirable, this substance has been shown to for all intents and purposes, to completely reverse heart disease.

Various articles have referred to it as "Drano for the arteries".

Research is continuing with a slightly modified, bioengineered form and results are extremely promising.

The cholesterol (and yes, it is cholesterol) that is saving these people's lives is called ApoA-Milano.

And of the forty or fifty people in that tiny Italian town, all descended from a man born in 1760, a man who had a small change in his genes, not a single one has yet to die from heart disease!


http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/LSD-Milano-Bielicki.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-01-08-heart-disease-cover_x.htm
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/290/17/2292

There are 96 references on PubMed for apoa milano

[lafroste]

What?

[ClaudiusI]

Must be part Cylon. :)

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

What do y'all think of this?

[no-to-illegals]

if this is on the level, it would be a tremendous break-through for 10's of millions of people.

[starfish923]

You mean we have a cure right in our own genes?
Genetic mutation......I call it stronger than strong immune system. That was more prevalent years and years and years ago than it was now.
This guy is a throwback from a LONG time ago. Good for him. The Ancient Man of modern day.

There were people long ago who must have had GANGBUSTER immune systems.
Eleanor of Aquitane lived to be 80, WITH having several children. 11th century, I think.
William the Conquorer lived to be 72. Imagine his immune system with all the disease and battle he lived through. Also 11th century.

Our gene pool becomes weaker and weaker, as the years go by, as we "save" those who would have died 100 years ago....and THEY have children.
No values or morals here, just plain genes. We ARE getting a weaker and weaker gene pool. We let Downes Syndrome people have children also.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Ping

[djf]

The mods know me. I ain't gonna post gibberish. It's on the level.

[starbase]

I read about this a few years ago somewhere. Good to see it's working out. How nice, no heart disease for us!!!

[Appalled but Not Surprised]

Heard about this about 10 years ago. It's real.

Just waiting for the shots to become available before I have the Big One.

[djf]

No, we in general don't have it. But those 50 or so people in the town do!

This is similar to the Delta-32 mutation that some Europeans have. If both your parents have it, you are immune to black death and hiv.

[Appalled but Not Surprised]

No values or morals here, just plain genes. We ARE getting a weaker and weaker gene pool. We let Downes Syndrome people have children also.
>>>

I see where you're going with that crap.

No.

Thank.

You.

[stylin19a]

And of the forty or fifty people in that tiny Italian town, all descended from a man born in 1760, a man who had a small change in his genes, not a single one has yet to die from heart disease!

still scratchin my head over this statement.

[B.Bumbleberry]

Don't know about the specifics of the article, but our family has genetically high colesterol and there has never been a heart attack or heart disease in several generations.

[technomage]

From November 2003, The Cleveland Clinic Heart Center
http://www.clevelandclinic.org

"Super HDL" Reverses Atherosclerosis Extraordinary results of Cleveland Clinic-led study may be a "paradigm shift" in treatment of America's most deadly ailment.

Do 40 people in a small village in rural Italy hold the key to reversing plaque buildup in coronary arteries? A new study appearing in the Nov. 5 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association* provides strong evidence that five weekly infusions of a synthetic form of “good cholesterol,” or HDL, can remove significant amounts of plaque from these arteries.

“This is an extraordinary and unprecedented finding,” said Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Steven E. Nissen, M.D., who directed the 10-center nationwide study. “This is the first convincing demonstration that targeting HDL, good cholesterol, can benefit patients with heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States.”

The development of this investigational drug is an unusual story. About 30 years ago, researchers discovered 40 individuals in Limone Sul Garda in Northern Italy who appeared perfectly healthy, despite having very low levels of good cholesterol. Ordinarily, such people would have a high risk of heart disease, but these people did not. Intrigued, researchers wanted to find out why. Their studies revealed a variant in a protein known as Apolipoprotein A-I, which is a component of HDL. This variant was named ApoA-I Milano after the city of Milan, where the initial laboratory work was done.

ApoA-I Milano is being developed into a potential treatment for heart disease by Esperion Therapeutics Inc., an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based biopharmaceutical company. Esperion’s investigational treatment, designated ETC-216, is a recombinant version of ApoA-I Milano combined with a phospholipid. After pre-clinical studies showed rapid removal of plaques from diseased arteries, scientists at Esperion came to Dr. Nissen to help them design a study to determine whether infusions of the ApoA-I Milano/phospholipid complex could reverse coronary plaque buildup in patients with heart disease.

The Cleveland Clinic-directed study administered the ApoA-I Milano/phospholipid complex intravenously over a five-week period to a randomized group of patients initially hospitalized for acute chest pain. Researchers measured arterial plaques using intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) before and after the six-week study. Patients who were given the synthetic protein showed a dramatic decrease in arterial plaques, whereas a comparison group given saline showed no change in plaques.

Atherosclerosis, sometimes known as “hardening of the arteries,” is the process by which fatty deposits build up on the inner lining of artery walls, creating plaques. These plaques can grow large enough to significantly reduce blood flow. If the plaques rupture, they can cut off blood flow to vital organs, including the heart, causing heart attacks.

Traditional therapies for atherosclerosis focus on lowering levels of “bad” cholesterol, known as LDL. Although high levels of HDL have been shown to be beneficial, the clinical significance of targeting HDL therapeutically was unknown. This trial sought to test that possibility.

Dr. Nissen cautions that, “Much more testing needs to be performed to determine whether this unique form of HDL can be used routinely to treat patients with atherosclerosis.” He emphasized that the current clinical trial was a small “proof of concept” study, designed only to demonstrate the potential of this new therapy.

“People should not view new therapies as a ‘magic-bullet’ cure. For most of us, medicines will never replace the need to make healthy lifestyle choices,” Nissen said.

“Nonetheless, this study represents a paradigm shift,” he continued, “offering new hope for a devastating and common disease. We now know that it is possible to actively remove cholesterol plaques from the coronary arteries with drugs. I am confident that eventually this approach will make a significant difference in the care of patients with coronary heart disease.”

Study Details

The ApoA-I Milano trial involved 57 acute coronary syndrome patients in a randomized, prospective, double-blind, multicenter clinical trial conducted from November 2001 to March 2003. All patients had experienced an acute coronary syndrome, either unstable angina (severe chest pain) or heart attack. Each patient had a single coronary artery examined using IVUS within two weeks following the cardiac event.

IVUS technology gives doctors the ability to visualize coronary plaques using high-frequency sound waves. The procedure is performed along with cardiac catheterization. Doctors are able to see detailed images of the interior walls of the arteries and precisely measure the size of the plaques inside the artery.

Patients were randomized to three treatment groups — placebo, low dose or high dose of intravenous recombinant ApoA-I Milano/phospholipid complex. The study drug was administered as a weekly intravenous infusion for a total of five weeks. Patients underwent IVUS of the originally imaged coronary artery for a second time within two weeks following the final infusion. The second images then were compared with baseline images to compare plaque levels. Researchers found a statistically significant change in volume of the thickened, fatty lining inside the arteries of patients who had received either the high or the low dose of intravenous recombinant ApoA-I Milano/phospholipid complex.

[aposiopetic]

The cholesterol (and yes, it is cholesterol) that is saving these people's lives is called ApoA-Milano.

This is not true. Apo-A is a lipoprotein, not a sterol.

[muawiyah]

This guy's gene is probably more widespread than the researchers thought ~ sounds like what you need to successfully herd sheep and goats up in the mountains. You end up living on milk and cheese, with assorted green onions and garlic, for a substantial part of the year.

If you dig through the references and cross-references, though, this discovery (25 years ago) led to the discovery of statins and their effect on cholesterol.

I have a low cholesterol "problem" pretty much like the one this fellow has ~ and you'll notice he's "short" on the good stuff while also being low on the bad stuff, and on triglycerides.

I also have an hereditary reaction to all of the statin drugs ~ they call it "myalgia", or intense intramuscular pain. Read the ads and you'll see the warning. They tell you this is a rare side-effect.

[Publius6961]

Just stick your fingers in your ears and say
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la...

[Centurion2000]

It's that amalgram of blood he got from a single cylon parent

[FairOpinion]

Thanks for posting it. I read about that small village in Italy, but then I didn't know what became of the research.

If this really works when people take it, as it is when it's passed on genetically, it can virtually end cardiovascula diseases caused by clogged arteries.