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Beta blockers, also known as beta-adrenergic blocking agents, are drugs that help reduce blood pressure by blocking the effects of the hormone epinephrine, also known as adrenaline, the hormone that triggers the body’s fight-or-flight response when stressed. This slows heart rate and eases up on the force that the heart pumps with. As a result now the blood pressure goes down since the heart is no longer working as hard.

Now Canadian scientists from York University in Toronto found these drugs also reverse a number of potentially detrimental genetic changes associated with heart disease.

“Due to its universality, the multi-faceted progression of heart disease is therefore one of profound clinical importance. Progressive heart failure, as one aspect of cardiovascular disease, has a staggering prevalence of approximately thirty eight million diagnosed patients globally, a number which is growing due to the ageing population and the pervasiveness of HF in that age cohort. Moreover, a heart failure diagnosis in many cases is an ailment with a poorer prognosis than most cancers.” Said Professor John McDermott, who led the research, talking about the morbidity and mortality associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) worldwide.

Scientists analyzed how genes change in heart failure in order to understand and avert the progression of heart failure. They, in particular, studied how the genes changed when beta blocker treatment was implemented using an experimental model of heart failure and next generation sequencing to

get a snapshot of all of the RNA in the heart cells. What they noticed was the change that occurred in the global gene expression in case of heart failure.
They then explored the pattern of gene expression when beta blocker treatment was implemented, and what they found important ramifications for future treatments of heart disease.

“We discovered that beta blockers largely reverse the pathological pattern of gene expression observed in heart failure. This could mean that the reversal or suppression of pathological gene expression by beta blockers is somehow protective against heart failure, but it’s something we would need to look into further to understand how individual genes function in the heart.” said Dr.McDermott.

McDermott and team have also identified genes that are intended to be further explored for their potential use in diagnosis and treatment in heart failure.

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