|Endothelin Drugs Benefit Those With Pulmonary Hypertension|
|Thursday, 10 September 2009 10:12| Breaking news from Genetic
Engineering & Biotechnology has reported that recent research to
block the effects of endothelin, a powerful substance that
constricts blood vessels and stimulates cell growth, has led to
successful treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension and
provides hope for treating other chronic diseases. The
usefulness of the new drugs to treat congestive heart failure is
much less clear, according to Professor Matthias Barton, M.D. of
the Department of Medicine at the University of Zurich School of
Medicine. Endothelin's importance in both health and disease
quickly became clear after researchers first discovered its
receptors in the early 1990s. The human body continuously
produces endothelin and increases its production in response to
disease conditions, such as inflammation, high blood pressure or
high cholesterol. Nitric oxide, a substance also released from
the endothelium that dilates th