Alireza "Ray" Rezaie spends his days in a lab manipulating molecules to make some of their functions work better while turning off others that can cause unwanted side effects.

His work could one day help prevent and treat health conditions ranging from heart disease to blood poisoning.

In July, the National Institutes of Health awarded Rezaie, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at St. Louis University, a four-year, $1.52 million grant to study how antithrombin, the key blood-clotting inhibitor produced by the liver, can be improved to prevent premature death from heart disease.

Two years ago, the NIH gave him $1.5 million to study activated Protein C. In its activated form it helps regulate inflammation, blood clotting and cell death. It also helps maintain the permeability of blood vessel walls.

Rezaie has been studying ways to ramp up activated Protein C's ability to prevent organ failure while reducing its anti-clotting activity, to prevent hemorrhaging.

The antithrombin study is still in its infancy, but Rezaie recently discovered that it also blocks inflammation in the blood vessel wall, which can lead to heart disease and acute sepsis. The later is a violent, life-threatening reaction to blood infections.

He's moved from the petri dish stage of the study to looking at its effects in mice. It could be years before a drug is developed for clinical trials and even longer before FDA approval.

Nevertheless, Rezaie is excited about the promising findings.

"What's interesting is antithrombin is involved in normal circulation to prevent clot formation," he says. "After a clot is formed, at the site of a cut or bruise, antithrombin is the molecule that comes and stops the clotting. You have to stop it at one point when it's finished."

Patients with coronary artery disease, embolisms, strokes and heart attacks are typically treated with blood thinners such as Heparin and Coumadin, which inhibit antithrombin and put patients at risk of hemorrhaging. Rezaie's antithrombin could potentially be used in lieu of those drugs.

Originally posted here:
In the lab: Manipulating molecules for better health