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Sangamo reports ZFP Therapeutic has potential to treat congestive heart failure
New York, Nov. 16 - Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. announced data that indicates its ZFP Therapeutic may have potential to treat congestive heart failure.
When administered directly into the heart of adult rats, the treatment was shown to improve cellular calcium flux and enhance both the rate and extent of relaxation and contraction of the heart muscle cells.
In addition, in a rat model of heart failure the drug demonstrated improved contractility and hemodynamics - or blood movement into and out of the heart.
Used in the research was Sangamo's zinc finger DNA-binding protein transcription factors that repress expression of phospholamban.
"We are very excited by these data," said Frank Giordano, associate professor of cardiology at Yale University School of Medicine, in a news release. "PLN [phospholamban] is a critical regulator of cardiac homeostasis and muscle contractility and has been well validated in a number of animal models as a target for congestive heart failure.
"However, the conventional approach of developing small molecule antagonists of PLN has proven to be very difficult. Sangamo's technology provides a novel approach which has the potential to address the molecular root of the disease and may provide improvement in contractility in failing hearts regardless of the origin of the disease."
Giordano, Sangamo's collaborator in the work, presented the data at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association on Wednesday in Dallas.
Sangamo BioSciences is based in Richland, Calif., and develops DNA-binding proteins for therapeutic gene regulation and modification.
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