FOXO proteins and protection from cardiac ischaemic injury

Funded Activity Summary

Reduced blood supply to the heart can initiate a heart attack that results in damage to the heart muscle. Loss of muscle tissue under these conditions initiates pathological growth of the heart and can eventually lead to the development of heart failure, a major cause of death and disability in western countries. Treatment with growth factors can prevent the acute damage and loss of cells, but these cause detrimental effects on other tissues. For these reasons, it is necessary to establish ways to activate protective pathways in the heart without causing unwanted effects on other tissues. To this end, we have identified for the first time in the heart members of a newly described family of gene regulators that can cause cell death by increasing expression of cytotoxic factors. We showed that these FKHRor FOXO family members are regulated in the heart and that they are active in generating cytotoxic factors. We now plan to establish whether FOXO proteins are involved in causing cell death during heart attack and whether manipulating their activities can be cardioprotective.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2005

End Date: 01-01-2007

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $354,375.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

FOXO or FKHR | apoptosis | cardiomyocyte apoptosis | heart failure | ischaemia and reperfusion | ischaemic injury | receptor signalling

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