IIT Madras Researchers Discover Enzyme That Causes High Blood Pressure

IIT Madras researchers have found a connection between hypertension and a specific enzyme called MMP7.

For those who don’t know, hypertension is another term for high blood pressure, which is a heart disease occurring due to heart tissues’ remodeling.

According to the researchers, MMPs or Matrix Metalloproteinases are responsible for the remodeling that causes hypertension. This leads to mechanical and structural changes to pump blood into the blood vessels, resulting in the risk of heart diseases.

There is also a connection between MMPs and extracellular matrix proteins’ degradation, during the growing process of regular tissues. They help with injury-related situations like tissue repair, wound healing, etc.

MMP7 enzyme reportedly causes cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. Earlier studies suggested that hypertension in rats could be reduced by eliminating the MMP7 gene.

However, it was not until now have researchers been able to find a link between hypertension and the MMP7 gene.

This connection was focused on by a research team by studying people living in the Northern and Southern India. The study indicated that the change in the MMP7 gene’s regulatory region revealed its association with hypertension.

The researchers also separated the molecular and cellular mechanisms that cause the increased blood MMP7, a symptom normally found in the carriers with this genetic variation.

Professor Nitish Mahapatra, a researcher of this project said that this study helped them further understand how functional regulatory changes and variations in the MMP7 gene promoter affect the risk of people having cardiovascular disease.

He then further added that this understanding would help them figure out preventive strategies to help those with the variation causing hypertension and cardiovascular complications.