Arginase inhibitors found to help diabetes patients

An enzyme called arginase may play a vital role in the development of cardiovascular disease in patients with type II diabetes.

Treatments that restrain this enzyme lessen the risk of angina in diabetics as arginase stops the development of protective nitrogen oxide in the blood vessels, according to a new study released yesterday (November 27th) by scientists at the Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital.

Plaque deposits on the vessel walls constrict the blood vessels – known as atherosclerosis – leading to complications in diabetes sufferers.

Potential amputation, stroke, myocardial infarction and angina can all result from the lack of blood flow and reduced oxygen supply.

People who have high blood lipids or who smoke are more likely to be inflicted by atherosclerosis, however diabetes patients are at highest risk.

So far, the link between cardiovascular disease and diabetes has escaped researchers and there is still no explicit treatment for those complications.

Researchers examined the function of the enzyme arginase in the blood vessels of patients with both angina and type II diabetes and found that it stops the formation of protective molecule nitric oxide in the vessel wall.

Once they applied a substance that is already known to hinder the enzyme, they saw a considerable improvement in blood vessel function in these patients.

In comparison, the arginase inhibitor did not perform as well on angina patients without type II diabetes and had no effect on healthy patients.

"The fact that we could demonstrate the presence of arginase in several types of cell in the vessel wall gives us an entirely new explanatory model for the development of complications in these patients," said lead investigator Professor John Pernow.

The study involved a total of 48 patients and the scientists are now scheduling a larger study to confirm their results, with the hope of developing new treatments using arginase inhibitors.

The study was published in the scientific journal Circulation.

Posted by Neil Clark