CHOLESTEROL-lowering drugs taken by millions at risk of heart disease may
have another unsuspected benefit. It appears that statins, as these drugs are
known, may promote the growth of new blood vessels, which could help people with
blocked or damaged blood vessels.
Kenneth Walsh and colleagues at Tufts University School of Medicine in
Boston, found that one commonly used statin activated an enzyme called Akt. This
enzyme plays a key role in the metabolic pathway that maintains and protects
blood vessels (Nature Medicine, vol 6, p 1004). Walsh found that
switching on this pathway produced new blood vessels in…
