NIH Awards Mayo Clinic $11 Million to Research Heart Disease Therapies

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Mayo Clinic researchers have been awarded $11 million by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue their investigations into how the function of some peptides — specialized strings of amino acids — synthesized in the heart may lead to innovative therapies to fight cardiovascular disease.

The five-year award will fund four projects, all with the goal of delaying the progression of heart failure. They include molecular and cellular studies, novel animal models, gene therapy and human trials conducted in Mayo's General Clinical Research Center. This NIH program project grant represents research on cardiovascular peptides that has been the focus of a Mayo collaborative team for two decades.

"This significant award reflects Mayo Clinic's strong foundation in cardiovascular and renal research, as well as its interdisciplinary approach at all levels of inquiry," says cardiologist John Burnett Jr., M.D., principal investigator and head of the Cardiorenal Research Laboratory. Dr. Burnett has long pursued the broad area of cardiovascular endocrinology, with an emphasis on the mechanisms that link the heart, vascular wall and kidneys in heart failure and hypertension.

The research funded by the $11 million will focus on the endocrine role of the heart, as well as the natriuretic peptide system — cardiac peptides that contribute to the homeostatic maintenance of cardiovascular and renal function and structure. The research team will pursue a highly translational strategy designed to delay the progression of heart failure through the prevention of myocardial remodeling and systolic and diastolic dysfunction. Additionally, the team will target cardiac fibrosis and vascular and renal dysfunction through highly innovative protein therapies in part pioneered by the group.

In addition to Dr. Burnett, project leaders from Mayo Clinic include Margaret Redfield, M.D.; Robert Simari, M.D.; and Horng Chen, M.D.; co-investigators from Mayo include Alessandro Cataliotti, M.D., Ph.D.; Lilach Lerman, M.D., Ph.D.; Amir Lerman, M.D.; Vijay Shah, M.D.; and Richard Vile, Ph.D. Maria Valencik, Ph.D., and John McDonald, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Nevada, also are co-investigators.
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