The treatment involves the Harvard-developed drug endostatin, which has been shown to be remarkably potent against cancer but has not been tested yet on people. Now, the same team that discovered endostatin found that in mice, at least, the drug may also greatly slow the development of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.
Atherosclerosis is a buildup of fatty deposits.
The research raises the possibility that a new category of drugs, the blood vessel inhibitors, may be useful weapons against both heart disease and cancer, the two most important diseases of the industrialized world. A team led by Dr. Judah Folkman of Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital in Boston reported the development in Tuesday's issue of the American Heart Association journal Circulation. Folkman pioneered the study of angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels. Endostatin is a natural protein that blocks blood vessel formation. Without a blood supply, cancer in lab animals often stops growing and disappears.