Muscle protein abundant in the heart plays key role in blood clotting during heart attack The surprise finding from a Scripps Research team reveals a potential new approach for treating cardiovascular diseases.
April 02, 2020
LA JOLLA, CA A prevalent heart protein known as cardiac myosin, which is released into the body when a person suffers a heart attack, can cause blood to thicken or clot worsening damage to heart tissue, a new study shows.
A team led by John H. Griffin, PhD, a professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research, made the unexpected finding after a series of experiments spanning three years and involving researchers from multiple collaborating institutions.
Though blood clotting is the root cause of many life-threatening cardiac events, including heart attack and stroke, scientists didn't know until now that cardiac myosin was implicated in that process. The protein's primary job is to provide the muscle-motor action that pumps blood.
The real breakthrough of this study is that we've discovered another major biologic activity of cardiac myosin. No one had suspected it was acting as a procoagulant factor, Griffin says. Our findings bridge research in hematology and cardiology, showing there's another potentially very important factor influencing the health outcomes of people with cardiac disease.
Blood coagulation is essential to prevent bleeding after an injury. The most abundant procoagulant protein in the human body is collagen, but it's not usually exposed to blood. Upon blood vessel and tissue damage, many procoagulant factors, including collagens, cause blood to turn from a liquid into a gel, forming a blood clot and reducing blood loss. However, procoagulants must strike the right balance between stopping bleeding and preventing excessive clotting, as occurs in conditions such as deep vein thrombosis or when a blood clot causes a stoke.
Just as with inflammation, a little coagulation is good, but too much is dangerous, Griffin says. While a small amount of cardiac myosin might help reduce bleeding in the heart, an excess of the protein may worsen the injury by promoting blood clots that cut off oxygen and exacerbate damage to heart tissue.
Indeed, Griffin and his collaborators, including Tobias Eckle, MD, PhD, of the University of Colorado, found that excess cardiac myosin doubled heart damage when administered to mice who experienced controlled heart attacks.
The study appears in the April 2020 issue of the American Heart Association journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.
Griffin and his team are now working with scientists at Calibr, the drug discovery and development division of Scripps Research, to create a therapeutic compound that would target the procoagulant activity of cardiac myosin, reducing tissue damage caused by a heart attack.
Anticoagulant drugs already exist, ranging from over-the-counter medications like aspirin to widely prescribed drugs such as coumadin and warfarin. A newer class of drugs, known as direct oral anticoagulants (commonly referred to as DOACs), also have emerged to address the great need for blood clotting medications. But many of these existing drugs can cause excessive bleeding or other side effects because they act on the entire body's coagulation system, not just blood clotting in the heart.
Griffin envisions an anticoagulant medicine that targets only cardiac myosin-driven coagulation. Such a drug could theoretically be administered to patients in the hospital immediately after an acute cardiac event.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for men, women and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States, Griffin says. New and better medicines are needed for those at risk of disease, and cardiac myosin gives us a promising avenue to pursue.
Authors of the study, Cardiac Myosin Promotes Thrombin Generation and Coagulation In Vitro and In Vivo, include Jevgenia Zilberman-Rudenko, Hiroshi Deguchi, Meenal Shukla, Yoshimasa Oyama, Jennifer N. Orje, Zihan Guo, Tine Wyseure, Laurent O. Mosnier, Owen J.T. McCarty, Zaverio M. Ruggeri, Tobias Eckle and John H. Griffin.
The work was supported by the American Heart Association and multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health.
Heart Disease Griffin, John
North America Stories
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17-19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
Muscle protein abundant in the heart plays key role in blood clotting during heart attack The surprise finding from a Scripps Research team reveals a potential new approach for treating cardiovascular diseases.
