Found the Second Leading Cause of Heart Failure Deaths Among Koreans

Inje University Research Team, "Clue to Developing New Treatment Method"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Domestic researchers have identified the cause of heart failure, a major cardiovascular disease, opening the door to the development of new treatments.

According to the Korea Research Foundation on the 21st, a research team led by Professors Han Jin and Kim Hyung-kyu at Inje University Cardiovascular Metabolic Disease Center discovered a new function of the Cereblon protein, which regulates the heart's electrical activity and contractility. The Cereblon protein determines the degradation of specific proteins within cells, thereby regulating various cellular functions.

Cardiovascular disease ranks second in mortality in Korea after cancer, with its prevalence increasing annually. It is known as a high-risk disease that shortens healthy lifespan over a long period. Although the incidence and prevalence of heart failure continue to rise, the exact pathogenesis and standard treatments remain unclear. Most treatments combine medications for hyperlipidemia and hypertension with surgical interventions to improve survival rates and symptoms.

Previous studies have not clarified the fundamental cause of reduced cardiac contractility in heart failure patients, particularly the cause of dysfunction in calcium channels that regulate contractility.

The research team confirmed increased expression of the Cereblon gene in the hearts of heart failure patients and, based on this, created a genetically modified mouse model targeting this gene in the heart. They identified a new regulatory mechanism whereby the Cereblon protein ‘directly degrades’ the calcium channels that regulate cardiac contractility. They confirmed that this is the cause of calcium channel dysfunction involved in regulating cardiac contractility in heart failure patients. It was the first to reveal the disease association that mice with low Cereblon expression have better cardiac contractility and resistance to heart disease.

Professor Kim Hyung-kyu stated, “Until now, there has been no clear standard system for treating heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFrEF),” adding, “The identification of the Cereblon-calcium channel signaling pathway is expected to provide a clue for developing new therapeutics.”

The research results were published online on February 22 in the international cardiovascular journal, the European Heart Journal.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.