Longevity & AgingEpigenetic Drug Resets Fat Around Blood Vessels to Fight Heart Disease
Researchers at the University of Zurich discovered that a thin layer of fat wrapping small arteries plays a key role in cardiovascular disease. In healthy people this fat helps blood vessels relax, but in obesity and high blood pressure it flips to an inflammatory, vessel-damaging state. The team treated human artery samples from obese hypertensive patients with RVX-208, a drug that blocks BET proteins — epigenetic regulators that amplify disease-driven gene activity. The drug restored the vessels' ability to relax, reduced inflammation and oxidative stress, and converted the diseased fat back to a healthy state. Mouse studies confirmed these benefits. The key downstream target appeared to be HK2, an enzyme involved in sugar metabolism, specifically within the perivascular fat.
