A team of scientists from the research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) of the University of Navarra has identified an enzyme core topic at development in heart failure. Specifically, it is involved in the accumulation of fibrous tissue in the heart of patients with chronic heart disease and impaired heart function. The work, published in the journal Hypertension, is part of a project of the network European Excellence in Hypertension and Cardiovascular Diseases, involving groups from research in Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Great Britain, France, Germany, Finland and Poland. This project is also part of the network Española de research de las Enfermedades Cardiovasculares.

Heart failure currently affects more than 1,250,000 Spaniards over 45 years of age. More than half of these people have a life expectancy of less than five years. It has been shown that the accumulation of fibrosis in the heart has a decisive influence on the development of heart failure in patients with chronic heart disease. The CIMA study analyzed the expression of the enzyme lysyl oxidase, which regulates the amount of fibrous tissue in the myocardium. "Using molecular and histological methods, we have observed that the myocardium of patients with heart failure contains an excess of this enzyme and of the collagen fiber it produces. These factors are associated with the deterioration of cardiac function," explains Dr. Begoña López, principal investigator of the study. Doctors Arantxa González, Javier Beaumont and Javier Díez, director of the area of Cardiovascular Sciences of the CIMA and coordinator of the Molecular Cardiology Unit of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra; as well as doctors Ramón Querejeta, of the Hospital Universitario Donostia, and Mariano Larman, of the Policlínica Guipúzcoa (San Sebastián) have also participated in the study.

According to the researchers, the study shows that some drugs currently used in patients with heart failure do not inhibit the enzyme lysyl oxidase, nor do they reduce fibrosis or improve heart function. In contrast, other drugs that are less widely used do have these beneficial properties. "Our work opens up new avenues for the treatment of patients with heart disease, based on the inhibition of this enzyme. This would prevent the development of heart failure," says Begoña López.