Monash University researchers have revealed a novel therapy that corrects a mechanism in the body that’s gone wrong in Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).
Central Clinical School (CCS) researchers, led by Professor Sam El-Osta, identified how genes that protect against POTS become silent or ‘switched off’ , and found a drug to switch them on again.
Professor El-Osta says that while the gene implicated in POTS – norepinephrine transporter (NET) – has been known for several decades, past research has failed to find a genetic mutation responsible for the symptoms.
“We predicted that inhibiting this epigenetic condition could reactivate NET gene function and used a pharmacological drug called GSK-126 that could specifically inhibit EZH2 activity with dramatic results,” he said. “This is the first description of NET reactivation using a drug. The beauty is that it allows us to target very specifically the enzyme to reactivate gene function.”
Currently there is no specific pharmacological treatment available for POTS, which affects mainly people aged 18 to 50 years, eighty per cent of whom are women.
“We’re far from it now and clinical trials would need to be conducted but the new drug could lead to better management of POTS,” he said.
The study, published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation Research, reveals that the enzyme EZH2 is responsible for silencing this gene.
In Australia ,POTS is referred to as the ‘Wiggles Disease’ after Greg Page retired from the popular children’s music group in late 2006 after developing the condition.
For a link to the study, click here
