Studies Body fat has significant effects on heart health

Researchers were able to prevent heart failure by controlling the fatty tissue metabolism

Through a targeted intervention in the lipid metabolism, researchers at the Institute of Pharmacology of the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin were able to successfully reduce the risk of developing cardiac insufficiency. The scientists found that body fat also affects cardiac function at the molecular level. The release of fatty acids from body fat could have a significant impact on the health of the heart.

The scientists of the Berlin Institute may have developed a new therapy for heart failure by controlling the adipose tissue metabolism. Researchers have long suspected that body fat also affects the heart function at the molecular level. The central process in this topic is the release of fatty acids from adipose tissue. The researchers were able to turn off a specific enzyme in animal experiments, after which the treated animals were almost completely protected against the onset of heart failure. The results of the study were recently published in the journal "PLOS Genetics".

Researchers were able to link changes in the metabolism of adipose tissue with the risk of heart failure. (Image: psdesign1 / fotolia.com)

Heart failure is a serious disease

Cardiac insufficiency is a chronic disease that should not be underestimated, as more than one out of three patients with heart failure dies within five years of suffering. The research team headed by Professor Ulrich Kintscher at the Charité was able to link changes in the metabolism of adipose tissue with the risk of heart failure. "We were able to show that body fat alters the lipid composition of the heart and probably influences the cardiac function through these changes," explains Kintscher in a press release from the Charité on the study results.

An enzyme is crucial to the process

The researchers intervened in animal experiments with mice in their fat metabolism and switched off a gene that is responsible for the enzyme adipocyte triglyceride lipase (ATGL) in adipose tissue. The mice were then almost completely protected from the onset of heart failure. In further tests blood samples from patients without and with heart failure were examined. The scientists were able to determine that the lipid changes in the blood in some aspects corresponded to the changes that could be observed in the hearts of the animals.

The fatty tissue should be kept more in the eye

In upcoming clinical trials, the researchers want to deepen their findings and to determine the question of whether the gene responsible for the release of fatty acids and the enzyme ATGL can be used specifically for drug treatment. "For the patients, this means that one should now keep an eye on the fatty tissue during diagnosis and therapy decisions, even if one actually wants to treat heart disease," concludes Kintscher. Now, the results will be reviewed in cooperation with cardiologists of the Charité in further patient analyzes. Thus, the importance of adipose tissue for heart failure in the clinical routine could get a significantly higher status. (Vb)