Heart problems are responsible for up to 65% of deaths in the population with diabetes.
Today, more than 420 million with diabetes, a disease characterized by insufficient production or inappropriate use of insulin, is the hormone responsible for cells to capture blood glucose to produce energy.
The result is that the bloodstream ends up transporting an excess of glucose, which ends up causing damage to multiple organs of the body.It is the case, especially of the heart.
Not surprisingly, cardiac arrhythmias suppose one of the most serious complications of diabetes, to the point that 65% of patients die from a heart problem.
Hence the importance of an international study led by researchers from the Federal University of Rio de Janeirheart, but this process can be prevented or, failing that, reversed with treatment with two drugs.
As Emiliano Medei, director of this research published in the magazine "Nature Communications" explains, "it is well known that inflammation is an important tool to combat infections, and that normally ends once the" intruder "is eliminated.However, in diabetes there is no such infection, and persistent hyperglycemia stimulates the immune system to produce constant inflammation, with a great release of interleucin-1β ».
Inflammatory Diabetes
The heart problems are responsible for up to 65% of deaths in the population with diabetes, being the most common of these problems the so -called 'ventricular tachycardia', that is, an alteration of the heart rate that can lead to the appearance ofAn episode of ventricular fibrillation - also known as' sudden death episode.And exactly, what is the relationship between diabetes and this type of cardiac arrhythmia?
To answer this question, the authors used an animal model-trays-genetically modified so as not to express interleucin-1β (IL-1β), that is, a protein involved in the immune response that activates inflammation in case of infection or injury.And also, ‘normal’ mice with all its intact genes.And what they did is cause both types of animals to develop diabetes.
In our study we have found that inflammation is the link between diabetes and arrhythmiamiliano Medei
The authors observed that both types of diabetic, normal and ‘mutant’ animals showed the pampering high blood glucose levels.However, the only mice that presented alterations in their heart rate were those that had not been genetically modified.More;Mice unable to produce the IL-1β suffered much less episodes of arrhythmia than their ‘normal’ homonyms when caffeine or ‘bendamine’-a drug that causes ventricular tachycardia.
Likewise, the results verified the high levels of IL-1β in the blood of normal mice with diabetes, being these levels especially high in the heart.In fact, the IL-1β administration was alone to alter cardiac function both in human heart cell cultures and in mice without diabetes.
In short, the study confirms that high blood glucose levels cause specific inflammation that directly affects the heart.But is there nothing we can do?
Revert the process
Finally, the authors evaluated the possible effect on the coronary damage associated with diabetes of two drugs specifically designed to inhibit this inflammatory process.Specifically, they administered to the mice the 'MCC-950' drug, which blocks the production of IL-1β, and the 'Anakinra' drug, which prevents the action of the IL-1β in the body's cells and is already approved for itsUse in different autoimmune diseases, case of rheumatoid arthritis.And what happened?Well, the combination of both drugs was able to reverse heart alterations in diabetes mice.
As Emiliano Medei concludes, “we have found that inflammation is the link between diabetes and arrhythmias.I think that the new therapeutic tools proposed in our study are very promising for the treatment of cardiovascular disease caused by diabetes ».
