Pharmaceutical Composition And Method For Neoangiogenesis/Revascularization Useful In Treating Ischemic Heart Diseases

Abstract

A pharmaceutical composition and a method of treating ischemic heart diseases by growing new blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrients to infarcted heart tissues throughout the entire infarct zone and for preventing cardiomyocyte apoptosis in ischemic events. The pharmaceutical composition contains an active ingredient compound with a backbone structure of formula (I).

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 791,462, filed Apr. 13, 2006, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The application further claims priority to PCT Application Nos. PCT / IB2005 / 003202 and PCT / IB2005 / 003191, both filed Nov. 8, 2005, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition and a method of treating ischemic heart diseases. Particularly, it relates to a pharmaceutical composition and method for growing new blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrients to infarcted heart tissues throughout the entire infarct zone and for preventing cardiomyocyte apoptosis in ischemic events.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Ischemic heart diseases including coronary heart disease and heart infarction are diseases due to insufficient coronary blood supply or interruption of the blood supply to a part o...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]As one object of the present invention, there is provided a pharmaceutical composition for treating ischemic heart diseases which comprises one or more chemical compounds sharing a common backbone structure of formula (I), i.e., the compounds derived by substituting one or m o r e hydrogen atoms at various positions of the backbone structure of formula (I). The base compound, i.e., the backbone structure of formula (I) itself without any substitution, has shown potent beneficial therapeutic effects in treating ischemic heart diseases by promoting angiogenesis and protecting against endothelial apoptosis, resulting in revascularization in infarcted myocardia and prevention of further ischemic death of the cardiomyocytes. The base compound is referred to as “Ga” hereinafter. The compounds are known in the art but they are never known as possessing the above biological activities and therapeutic effects. In fact, the tannins, to which Ga belongs, are conventionally reviewed as non-active ingredients and in the process of identifying the active ingredients in herbal medicines researchers routinely discard the tannins as debris. Ga may be isolated from natural resources, particularly from plants or they may, with existing or future developed synthetic techniques, be obtained through total or semi-chemical syntheses.

[0010]As used in the present application, the term “functional derivative” means a prodrug, bioisostere, N-oxide, pharmaceutically acceptable salt or various isomer from the above-disclosed specific compound, which may be advantageous in one or more aspects compared with the parent compound. Making functional derivatives may be laborious, but some of the technologies involved are well known in the art. Various high-throughput chemical synthetic methods are available. For example, combinatorial chemistry has resulted in the rapid expansion of compound libraries, which when coupled with various highly efficient bio-screening technologies can lead to efficient discovering and isolating useful functional derivatives.

[0013]In still another aspect, present invention provides a method for treating, ameliorating or curing a pathological condition in a mammal, where the pathological condition, as judged by people skilled in medicine, can be treated or alleviated by up-regulating the expressions of angiogenic factors (VEGF and FGF) that promotes early revascularization in infarcted myocardium, and / or by inducing anti-apoptotic protein expression that inhibits apoptotic death of cardiomyocytes in the infarcted hearts and prevents the progressive extending of further ischemic injury and limiting infarct size. The method comprises a step of administering an effective amount of a compound of formula (I) or its functional derivative to the mammal.

Problems solved by technology

During remodeling progress post infarction, neoangiogenesis / revascularization to the infarcted heart tissues is insufficient to keep pace with the tissue growth required for contractile compensation and is unable to support the greater demands of the hypertrophied but viable myocardium, especially the myocardium along the border zone of the infarct-the cardiomyocytes at risk.

The consequence is that fibrous tissue grows rapidly despite the ischemic condition, which replaces the infarcted heart tissues and leaves little room for any newly regenerated myocyte replacement.

Up to now, there is no drug and therapeutic method available that can promote early reconstitution of the damaged coronary vasculature with newly formed vessels.

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