Studies See New Way to Reduce Heart Risk (CRP inflamation blood test)

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-sci-statins6jan06.story
THE NATION
Studies See New Way to Reduce Heart Risk
Halting inflammation may be as crucial as lowering cholesterol. In each case, statins are key.
By Thomas H. Maugh II
Times Staff Writer

January 6, 2005

Researchers have found the first direct evidence that reducing inflammation in coronary arteries decreases the risk of heart attacks as powerfully as the conventional strategy of reducing cholesterol levels — a finding that offers a new approach to preventing heart disease.

Two studies published today show that inflammation of the arteries can be reduced by more aggressive use of statins, a family of drugs already used to lower cholesterol.

But more significantly, the findings are likely to set off a frantic search by the pharmaceutical industry for other drugs more powerful and more specifically targeted against inflammation.

Statins are already the most widely sold family of drugs in the world and have provided a major reduction in heart attack risk. New drugs that target inflammation — as measured by a marker called C-reactive protein, or CRP — could have an equally large financial and health impact, experts said.

"All of a sudden, we have a revolution," said Dr. Steven Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic, who led one of the studies published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. "It's not enough to follow patients with heart disease by measuring cholesterol levels. We need to attack CRP with the same aggressiveness that we have used for cholesterol."

If cardiologists started routinely monitoring levels of CRP in patients at risk and treating them aggressively, tens of thousands of lives could be saved over the next few years, Nissen said.<snip>