There are connections between diabetes e heart disease? A new Australian study says yes and is not limited to mere research as an end in itself, but opens up therapeutic and prevention perspectives.
Diabetes and heart disease: how they are linked
There were already several clues about an alleged link between type 2 diabetes and heart disease and even after this study there is still much to explore, however the topic has interested scientists for a long time. “We have been observing for some time – one of the researchers of the study explained to SciTechDaily, Benjamin Hunter – a correlation between heart disease and type 2 diabetes, but this is the first research to examine diabetes and ischemic heart disease together and to discover a unique molecular profile in people with both diseases. Our findings demonstrate that diabetes alters the way the heart produces energy, maintains its structure under stress, and contracts to pump blood. Using advanced microscopy techniques, we were able to observe direct changes in the heart muscle as a consequence of this, in the form of an accumulation of fibrous tissue”.
The Australian study
The study in question, published in Embo Molecular Medicine, is entitled Left ventricular myocardial molecular profile of human diabetic ischaemic cardiomyopathyand was conducted at the University of Sydney by a team including scholars Benjamin Hunter and Sean Lal of the School of Medical Sciences. The research compared heart tissue donated by patients undergoing heart transplant and healthy patients, and this comparison was also obtained thanks to RNA sequencing.
Diabetes has emerged as specific triggers molecular changes in cardiac cells. Not only that: there would also be alterations in the structure of the heart muscle itself. In other words, diabetes does not simply coexist with heart disease, but actively contributes to it progression of heart failureand this process is most evident in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy, which is currently the leading cause of heart failure in humans. But there is also something else: the research has in fact made it possible to notice the reduction “production of structural proteins essential for heart muscle contraction and calcium handling in people with diabetes and ischemic heart disease, along with a buildup of hard, fibrous heart tissue that further affects the heart’s ability to pump blood”.
Therapeutic perspectives
As mentioned, the Australian study will have positive repercussions in terms of therapy but also of prevention: in practice, by intervening on prevention relating to diabetes, heart disease can also be prevented.
“Our research – clarified Lal, the other scholar – links heart disease and diabetes in ways that have never been demonstrated in humans, offering new insights into potential treatment strategies that could one day benefit millions of people. Now that we have linked diabetes and heart disease at the molecular level and looked at how this changes energy production in the heart, while also changing its structure, we can begin to explore new avenues of treatment.
Our findings could also be used to inform diagnostic criteria and disease management strategies in cardiology and endocrinology, improving care for millions of patients.”
