Nola Reporter

Heart attacks and strokes are a leading cause of death in the United  States, but scientists are still working to understand one of their  primary triggers. What causes plaque buildup within arteries to become  unstable, leading parts to suddenly burst or break away?

A key obstacle is that researchers haven’t been able to study plaques during a stroke. 

For the first time, researchers at Tulane University and Ochsner  Health were able to genetically sequence carotid plaque tissue collected  from patients within days after a stroke. When compared to stable  plaque, researchers discovered the tissues from recent stroke victims  contained messenger RNA that can cause inflammation and processes that  degrade a key portion of the plaque that protects against rupture,  according to results recently published in Scientific Reports.

“The  genes identified in our study could be used as targets to develop new  drugs or diagnostics to help prevent strokes and heart attacks,”

Cooper Woods, PhD

The discovery could help researchers develop new tools to stop strokes from happening. 

“The genes identified in our study could be used as targets to  develop new drugs or diagnostics to help prevent strokes and heart  attacks,” said study senior author Cooper Woods, PhD, associate  professor of physiology and medicine at Tulane University School of  Medicine.

The study was co-authored by Dr. Hernan Bazan, the John Ochsner  Endowed Professor for Cardiovascular Innovation at Ochsner Health.

Cooper Woods, PhD

Surprisingly, the researchers found that ruptured plaques had  increased markers of B-cells, a white blood cell whose role in plaque  rupture has not previously been appreciated. 

Previous studies have relied on carotid artery samples obtained after  the patient’s death or months after the stroke or heart attack. This  either limits the information that can be obtained or misses events that  occur only at the time of rupture.

Carotid artery blockage is a common cause of some ischemic strokes,  which happens when the blood supply to part of the brain is interrupted,  preventing brain tissue from getting necessary oxygen and nutrients.  Because the mechanisms that lead to some strokes and most heart attacks  involve the same plaque rupture events, these findings also have  implications for heart disease.

“Inflammation is a known risk factor in atherosclerosis, leading to  stroke and heart attacks,” Bazan said. “Carotid and coronary plaques  develop a protective cap that, for unclear reasons, thins, making  strokes and heart attacks more likely.”  

The full study is online at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-17546-9.

Original source can be found here.