Investigating a cause of failure of bypass grafts and stents

Dr Anthony Dear, ACBD

Neointimal hyperplasia, an injury related vascular response, accounts for the occlusion and failure of up to 50% of bypass grafts and stents used in the treatment of coronary artery and peripheral vascular disease and constitutes a considerable health and economic burden to the community. Recent research conducted in Dr Anthony Dear's lab at the Australian Centre for Blood Diseases in collaboration with Professor Robert Widdop, Monash Department of Pharmacology, suggests that "epigenetic" mechanisms may be involved in the neointimal hyperplasia response.
Identification of a novel agent, able to inhibit neointimal hyperplasia through "epigenetic" mechanisms suggests a potential future treatment for this widespread problem.   

Reference:

Rahmatzadeh M, Liu HB, Krishna SM, Gaspari TA, Welungoda I, Widdop RE, Dear AE. A novel agent with histone deacetylase inhibitory activity attenuates neointimal hyperplasia. Cardiovasc Drugs Ther. 2014 Jul 10. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 25005755 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]