Abnormal blood clotting enzyme identified

Monash University researchers have identified an enzyme that is largely responsible for the abnormal blood clotting that underlies heart attack and stroke, offering hope that a drug that effectively prevents these blood clots from forming will be available within 10 years.

Dr Cindy Yap, a postdoctoral fellow in the university's Department of Medicine, has been awarded a Victoria Fellowship from the Victorian State Government for her role in identifying that an enzyme called PI 3-kinase is critical to blood clot formation.

"In normal blood clotting, blood cells called platelets stick to the site of the injury and seal off the wound," Dr Yap said. "But in patients at high risk of heart attacks or stroke, platelets stick excessively to the injured blood vessel walls and can block the circulation of blood to the heart or brain, causing heart attack or stroke."

Dr Yap's research, which demonstrated that PI 3-kinase is critical in regulating the activation of the platelets, was patented by Monash University and licensed to Victorian biotechnology company Kinacia. The company is now using her research to develop new and safer antiplatelet drugs.

"Drugs that prevent blood clots from forming are already available but they are effective in only 25 per cent of people. Although more powerful anti-clotting drugs have been developed, these can cause extensive bleeding," Dr Yap said. "With the drug that we're trying to develop, animal studies have shown that it blocks abnormal blood clotting but does not affect the normal clotting process."

Item provided courtesy of Monash University