Hope for hard-to-treat heart disease

"Some 1 million patients in the U.S. live with a type of heart disease called heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, or HFpEF, caused by a stiffening of a chamber of the heart that makes it much more challenging to distribute blood throughout the body. The condition has few approved therapies and high mortality rates."

"For years, researchers have suspected that the hormone relaxin could be an effective treatment for certain cardiovascular diseases - including possibly HFpEF. It helps counteract fibrosis, prevents veins and arteries from hardening, and promotes essential vascular and cardiac remodeling to support the mother's heart during pregnancy."

"However, a major challenge has been keeping relaxin in the body long enough to be effective. The pharmaceutical industry tested a similar compound in clinical trials but encountered the same challenge as many hormone-based treatments: These molecules are generally small, and the body filters them out too quickly for them to be effective."

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) affects approximately 1 million patients in the United States and results from heart chamber stiffening that impairs blood distribution. The condition has limited approved treatments and high mortality rates. Relaxin, a hormone, shows promise for treating HFpEF by counteracting fibrosis and preventing arterial hardening. However, the body rapidly filters out relaxin molecules, rendering them ineffective as a treatment. In 2017, Andrew Kruse, a Harvard Medical School professor, made a structural biology discovery addressing this pharmacokinetic challenge. His research on relaxin receptor structure and ligand binding mechanisms offered a potential solution to extend relaxin's therapeutic duration in the body.

Read at Harvard Gazette