Can drugs help prevent and treat Aortic Stenosis?

Dr Jonathan Ciofani and his team are looking at Aortic Stenosis (AS), which is the abnormal narrowing of the aortic valve. AS impairs the flow of blood from the heart to the rest of the body and causes heart failure, loss of consciousness and death. Approximately 12% of individuals over the age of 75 years are diagnosed with AS, of whom over a quarter have severe AS. If left untreated, up to 50% of patients die within two years of symptom onset. The only treatment option currently available is an aortic valve replacement. At present, there are no tablet-based medical therapies to prevent or treat AS.

This research project aims to identify drug targets to prevent and treat AS. Dr Ciofani and his team are using their advanced skills in leveraging genetic data to evaluate causal relationships between risk factors and diseases, and to use this data to identify potential drug targets likely to be effective in diseases of interest. They wish to evaluate whether medications used for other common cardiovascular conditions, including lipid lowering, blood pressure lowering and hypoglycaemic therapies, may be predicted to be effective for AS. The intention is to then leverage these findings and learnings to evaluate the potential for medical therapies for other common valvular heart diseases, including mitral and tricuspid regurgitation.

Overall, this research aims to develop evidence for medical therapies for valvular heart disease.