A study developed at the research center Applied Medicine (CIMA) of the University of Navarra by doctors Javier Díez and Susana Ravassa has been awarded the award National Clinical research of the Pfizer Foundation. The act of submission took place last November 27th in Zaragoza.

The study describes that the excess of annexin A5 protein can contribute critically to the death of cardiac cells, specifically cardiomyocytes, in hypertensive patients who develop heart failure. "Furthermore, it demonstrates that the concentration of this protein can be quantified in patients' blood. Therefore, the results of work suggest that annexin A5 is a mediating factor of cardiac damage in hypertension and a biochemical marker of that damage," explains Dr. Javier Díez, director of area of Cardiovascular Sciences at CIMA.

Arterial hypertension is, together with ischemic heart disease, the leading cause of heart failure in our country. The mechanisms by which hypertension damages the heart muscle and impairs its function are still not sufficiently understood. In recent years various groups at research, including the laboratory of Hypertensive Cardiopathy at CIMA, have focused their attention on the role of cardiomyocyte apoptosis (cell death) in myocardial dysfunction in hypertension. "The prevalence of heart failure of hypertensive origin is increasing in the population, especially in women, and its vital prognosis remains poor, despite the therapeutic arsenal available. For this reason, it is essential to have innovative information that allows the development of effective strategies for the management of heart failure. In this regard, our results with annexin A5 raise the possibility that this molecule may be useful for the early diagnosis of myocardial damage in hypertensive patients, as well as being a potential therapeutic target for designing drugs that block its harmful actions in the myocardium".