A new antibody treatment prevents cholesterol buildup in heart mitochondria and restores energy production, offering hope for future heart disease therapies.
An international team of researchers has uncovered how cholesterol can interfere with heart function by building up inside the mitochondria of cardiomyocytes, the muscle cells of the heart. They have also developed an experimental immunotherapy that can reverse this buildup and restore the cells’ ability to produce energy.
The study, recently published in the Journal of Lipid Research, was led by Dr. Vicenta Llorente-Cortés, a researcher with the Lipids and Cardiovascular Pathology group at the Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona (IIBB-CSIC), which is part of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), as well as the Sant Pau Biomedical Research Institute (IR Sant Pau) and the CIBERCV.
