After noticing that paroxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor normally used to treat depression, stopped the progression of heart failure in mice, researchers have concluded that the drug could be reclassified for use in humans, investigators wrote in Science Translational Medicine.
Courtesy American Heart Association
According to researchers from Temple University School of Medicine, genetically modified mice with heart failure (HF) were given paroxetine for 4 weeks. The drug blocked GRK2 (a protein normally elevated in people with heart failure), improved the left ventricle’s capacity to pump blood, and protected the heart muscle from scar formation and fibrosis within the first 2 weeks of treatment.
The researchers concluded, “These data present compelling evidence of a causal role for GRK2 in the maladaptive progression of cardiac remodeling and dysfunction leading to HF, especially after ischemic injury. Therefore, the development of small-molecule inhibitors of GRK2 appears warranted for pharmacologic treatment of HF.”
Read more in Science Translational Medicine.