Dundee University researchers have found that an old and inexpensive anti-gout drug offers hope for heart disease patients.
The team, led by Allan Struthers, professor of cardiovascular medicine, has shown that allopurinol, a drug that has been used to prevent gout for more than 40 years, reduces thickening of the heart muscle wall, known as left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).
Such thickening is known to be a risk factor for future cardiovascular problems and, as such, patients with heart disease may be able to prevent such adverse outcomes by taking allopurinol.
Professor Struthers and his team at the university’s division of cardiovascular and diabetes medicine have previously shown that angina sufferers who were given allopurinol were able to exercise longer and harder before they experienced the chest pain that occurs when the heart runs short of oxygen.
This showed that the drug reduces symptoms and has the potential to reduce the need for angioplasty, surgery and hospital admissions.
The research, funded by the Medical Research Council, and published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology, represents another “piece of the jigsaw” in establishing the benefits that allopurinol can bring in terms of cardiac health.
“The fact allopurinol has been shown to work in several different ways means it possesses exciting potential for use in heart disease patients,” he said.
“Our work has been leading towards allopurinol improving both symptoms and survival rates.”