Might a peptide derived from snake venom be helpful for heart attack patients?
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic will study the question with a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, according to an announcement Monday from the Rochester, Minn.-based clinic.
The research seeks to better understand the potential for an engineered compound to reduce the level of cardiac and kidney injury in patients after heart attacks. It continues years of study at the Mayo Clinic focused on a compound called cenderitide, which is a designer peptide derived in part from the venom of the green mamba snake.
Last year, Mayo researchers presented data at a scientific meeting that showed cenderitide could prevent the death of heart cells. With the new grant, researchers will see how the compound works in 60 heart attack patients treated at Mayo Clinic’s centers in Rochester and Jacksonville, Fla.
“What we want to do is give the drug as soon as we can to prevent damage to the heart,” said Dr. John Burnett, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic.
“The snake peptide is very effective in helping the kidney get rid of salt and water, so that the body does not become congested and overloaded,” Burnett said. “The peptide also prevents the heart muscle cell from dying.
“When you have a heart attack or you have heart failure, your heart muscle cell will…it basically dies,” he said. “The snake peptide helps protect the heart blood cell.”
Nile Therapeutics Inc., a drug company based in California, has a license to develop cenderitide. The company is developing the peptide as a 90-day outpatient treatment to prevent hospital readmissions among heart failure patients, according to a news release Monday from the Mayo Clinic.
“Snakes make peptides that they eject when they bite their prey that can cause a dilation of the blood vessels,” Burnett said. “That’s important because then, when (snakes) inject the toxin, it goes throughout their target.”
Christopher Snowbeck can be reached at 651-228-5479. Follow him at twitter.com/chrissnowbeck.