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NEOUCOM heart study gets grant of $2.4 million: Professor studying "Mother Nature's bypass' phenomenon
July 28, 2009
By Diane Smith
Record-Courier staff writer
ROOTSTOWN — Research taking place at the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy could one day help patients grow their own heart bypasses.
Dr. William Chilian, chairman of the department of integrative medical sciences at the medical college, recently received a grant of nearly $2.4 million to further his cardiovascular research. The grant was issued by the Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and will fund five years of research.
The professor of physiology and pharmacology is studying coronary collateral growth, which he describes as “Mother Nature’s bypass.” The phenomenon provides a backup blood supply to the heart in the event of a blockage, which can prevent a heart attack or lessen symptoms. However, for reasons not completely understood, it occurs in only 60 percent of the population. The remaining 40 percent of people are at higher risk for heart attacks, coronary artery disease and other problems.
Chilian’s lab is one of only two labs in the world able to host this kind of research, Chilian said. The other lab, in Alabama, is headed by one of Chilian’s former trainees.
Post-doctoral associates will study two groups of rats. The first group of rats suffer from “metabolic syndrome,” meaning they are obese, insulin resistant and have high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The other group of lean rats will be used as a control group.
The goal is to determine what kinds of cell types in the heart are responsible for stimulating coronary collateral growth when the blood supply to the heart is restricted.
If the studies go well, the research may eventually escalate from rats to pigs, but not to humans. However, Chilian pointed out, the Food and Drug Administration requires extensive animal trials before any studies can be done in humans, meaning the research may eventually pave the way for research in people.
“Eventually, we hope to understand this mechanism completely, so that we can develop therapies to stimulate collateral growth in a patient who normally does not grow these vessels,” Chilian said. “Another way of saying this is that we hope patients grow their own by-passes.”
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