Heart Disease may be reduced by Enzyme CEH

Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University have been researching an enzyme called CEH, and have found that it could have significant effects in reducing the causes of coronary heart disease. Specifically, CEH’s role in the cardiovascular system could play a role in developing techniques to reduce plaque build-up in arteries. This treatment of increasing CEH is unique from other treatments which reduce plaque build-up, since it has the potential to actually decrease existing plaque.

Coronary heart disease results when monocytes in the coronary artery absorb large amounts of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), also known as bad cholesterol. After this absorption of LDL takes place, the monocytes become large and bloated (foam cells), and start clogging the coronary artery. This results in plaque formation in the artery, which can lead to heart attacks, strokes, atherosclerosis, and other kinds of vascular disease. The enzyme CEH counteracts this process, by making the cholesterol in the monocytes available to HDL, also known as good cholesterol. This is where cholesteryl ester hydrolase (CEH), comes into play. It controls the amount of cholesterol that is available for absorption by HDL. In other words, increasing the amount of CEH could decrease the amount of LDL in foam cells in the coronary artery, resulting in a decrease of plaque build-up.

Shobha Ghosh, a professor at the VCU School of Medicine showed how reducing the amounts of LDL in mice who had the human gene for CEH was a direct correlation in the decrease of heart disease. Although this research is still in the early phases of translational medicine and there is still work to be done, I believe that there is great potential for the development of many types of treatments for cardiovascular disease.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/86646.php