{"id":142122,"date":"2024-06-05T11:24:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T16:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/?post_type=bu-article&p=142122"},"modified":"2026-02-20T12:58:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T17:58:22","slug":"study-suggests-that-amyloid-contributes-to-calcific-aortic-valve-disease-development","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/news-events\/articles\/2024\/study-suggests-that-amyloid-contributes-to-calcific-aortic-valve-disease-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Study Suggests that Amyloid Contributes to Calcific Aortic Valve Disease Development"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Photo by Olivier Collet<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStudy Suggests that Amyloid Contributes to Calcific Aortic Valve Disease Development\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n
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June 5, 2024<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) is the major heart valve disease that afflicts nearly 10 million patients globally with an annual mortality exceeding 100,000, and the numbers continue to rise. In CAVD, microcrystals of hydroxyapatite (a calcium phosphate mineral) deposit onto the heart valve leaflets and impair cardiac function. The disease has a dismal prognosis with most untreated patients dying two years after diagnosis. Currently, the only available treatment is surgical aortic valve replacement, which is not appropriate for all patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While previous studies of the histology samples from explanted calcified aortic valves have found amyloid deposits in or near calcified areas, the causal relationship between amyloid deposition and calcification is unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers from BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, in collaboration with clinical cardiologists from New York University and University of Texas Houston, have now proposed<\/a> a molecular mechanism that links amyloid deposition in the aortic valve with degenerative calcification. They also theorize that other risk factors for CAVD, such as high blood levels of lipoprotein, can contribute to calcification both directly and indirectly through the mechanisms that involve amyloid accumulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Headshot
Olga Gursky<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Harnessing the \u201cresolution revolution\u201d in cryogenic electron microscopy, groups of researchers around the world were able to determine hundreds of structures of patient-derived protein aggregates called amyloid fibrils. Such fibrils are associated with major human diseases including Alzheimer\u2019s and Parkinson\u2019s diseases, diabetes, and heart diseases such as atherosclerosis and calcific aortic valve disease.  \u201cWe noticed that the unique geometry of amyloid fibrils, with their periodic arrays of acidic residues on the surface, provides a perfect match for the precursors of calcium phosphate crystals that deposit in the heart valve and impair its normal function,\u201d explained corresponding author Olga Gursky<\/a>, PhD, professor of pharmacology, physiology & biophysics at the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers propose that amyloid deposits, which are often found adjacent to calcified areas of the heart valve, can modulate CAVD and accelerate degenerative calcification. This implies that blocking amyloid formation may be a much-needed novel therapeutic target for CAVD and, potentially, other diseases involving degenerative calcification and amyloid formation, such as Alzheimer\u2019 disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe hope that a better understanding of molecular mechanisms and drivers of degenerative biomineralization will help identify new therapeutic targets for major human diseases, such as calcific aortic valve disease,\u201d adds Gursky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These findings appear online<\/a> in the journal Trends in Molecular Medicine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Much-needed pharmacologic interventions is paramount to better understand the complex modulators of the disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24243,"featured_media":138248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"Heart Disease","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[503,94],"bu-publication":[367],"medicine-article-category":[],"medicine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[385],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[390],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/142122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142122"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/142122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142134,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/142122\/revisions\/142134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142122"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=142122"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-article-category?post=142122"},{"taxonomy":"medicine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/medicine-topic?post=142122"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=142122"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=142122"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=142122"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=142122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}