NEW ORLEANS - T. Cooper Woods, Ph.D., Ochsner Staff Scientist and Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Cardiology, recently published a paper in the February issue of the journal Endocrinology describing how changes in the way vessels respond to insulin may lead to increased cardiovascular disease in Type 2 diabetics. In Type 2 diabetes, the cells of the body do not respond to insulin in the normal way. When this occurs, the checks that normally function to limit unwanted cell growth are lost. The ultimate result is that vascular disease is able to progress at a faster pace. "The body has many mechanisms that act as parking brakes, preventing unwanted cell growth. In our study we found that diabetes is able to remove one of these brakes accelerating the rate of heart disease," explains Woods. "Many studies have shown that there is increased inflammation in diabetics that promotes vascular disease. We found that insulin resistance also makes an artery respond more aggressively to that inflammation."
In the Laboratory of Molecular Cardiology at Ochsner, models of diabetes and vascular disease are used to identify differences in diabetics that may be responsible for the increased heart disease. Scientists team with Ochsner physicians to determine if the findings in the models of disease occur in the diabetic population. When successful, this research identifies new pathways and pharmaceutical targets that become more important when treating heart disease in the diabetic population.
This research was funded by a COBRE grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Research Resources to LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans Department of Pharmacology and grants from the Greater Southeast Affiliate of the American Heart Association to Ochsner Clinic Foundation.
###
Ochsner Health System is southeast Louisiana's largest non-profit, academic, multi-specialty, healthcare delivery system with eight hospitals and over 38 health centers in Louisiana. Ochsner has been named the Consumer Choice for Healthcare in New Orleans for 15 consecutive years and is the only Louisiana hospital recognized by U.S. News and World Report as a "Best Hospital" across seven specialty categories. Ochsner employs more than 12,500 employees, over 850 physicians in over 90 medical specialties and subspecialties and conducts over 300 clinical research trials annually. For more information, please visit ochsner.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Subscribe to the Ochsner Health System News RSS Feed
