Several patents from Bristol Myers Squibb Co. describe relaxin receptor 1 (RXFP1; LGR7) agonists reported to be useful for the treatment of heart failure and fibrosis.
Eleven Therapeutics Ltd. has established a research collaboration with Novo Nordisk A/S for the identification of novel molecules that promote precise delivery of nucleic acid for cardiometabolic diseases by leveraging Eleven’s innovative Deliveri platform.
The endogenous human protein annexin A1 (ANXA1) is a driver of inflammatory resolution and has shown protective effects in several models of diseases with inflammatory components, including myocardial infarction. Researchers from Resother Pharma A/S and colleagues reported on the preclinical cardioprotective role of RTP-026, a peptide derived from the ANXA1 N-terminal region that acts as N-formyl peptide receptor 2 (FPR2) ligand. In vitro, testing of receptor selectivity and activation in FPR2-HEK-293 cells showed an EC50 value between 10 and 30 nM.
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic have reported findings from the preclinical evaluation of a novel cardiac targeting peptide (CTP)-based radiotracer – [68Ga]NOTA-CTP – being developed as a myocardial perfusion imaging PET probe.
Altamira Therapeutics Ltd. has entered into a collaboration and option agreement with Heqet Therapeutics srl, a spin-out from King’s College London, to utilize the company’s proprietary Oligophore delivery platform in cardiovascular research.
Zymedi Co. Ltd. has signed a clinical cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to develop ZMA-001 for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).
Investigators from Foresee Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Medical University of Vienna and Cleveland Clinic recently reported data on the effects of the matrix metalloproteinase-12 (MMP-12) inhibitor FP-020 in a mouse model of cardiac sarcoidosis in which chronic activation of mTORC1 signaling in myeloid cells causes spontaneous cardiac sarcoid-like granulomas.
Over the past decade there has been much research into the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as a cell therapy to regenerate tissue and treat heart disease. Now, one researcher has narrowed the focus down to treating heart disease not with whole cells, but with mitochondria derived from iPSCs. Gentaro Ikeda, a researcher at the Department of Medicine at Stanford University, has worked on generating extracellular vesicles (EVs) containing mitochondria from pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and administering these to restore the functionality of the myocardium in a porcine model of an infarct.