Scaffold for the enlarged heart

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center researchers have identified a scaffold protein, calcium and integrin binding 1, whose expression correlates with the development of cardiac hypertrophy-a condition for which only indirect treatments for related conditions are available.¹ The protein's key selling point as a drug target is that it is upregulated only during pathologic hypertrophy; however, its lack of enzymatic activity could make it difficult to inhibit.

Cardiac hypertrophy-enlarged heart-can result from chronic hypertension, aortic stenosis or myocardial infarction (MI) and is a leading risk factor for heart failure. However, hypertrophy also is an important defense during exercise because it helps prevent damage due to increased stress and pressure.²...