BioCentury
ARTICLE | Cover Story

ACE in the hole

April 15, 2010 7:00 AM UTC

American and Japanese researchers may have found a way to boost the efficacy of marketed angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors by combining them with inhibitors of chymase,1 a protease that is abundant in cardiac tissue. The researchers now want to partner with a company to test the dual inhibitor strategy in a clinical trial to treat hypertension.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors prevent ACE from converting angiotensin I to angiotensin II. By doing so, the molecules counteract multiple downstream effects of excessive angiotensin II, including high blood pressure as well as cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis that can lead to heart failure...