Irish researchers have made innovative breakthroughs in treating coronary heart disease, diabetes and cystic fibrosis, it emerged today
The Health Research Board (HRB) revealed the successes of 60 researchers working on 38 projects across seven third-level institutions and seven hospitals in Ireland.
The 2006 edition of a Picture of Healthshowed researchers are working on new treatments to prevent coronary heart disease and have made major breakthroughs in treating the root cause of cystic fibrosis.
Dr Mairead O'Driscoll, acting director of research funding at the HRB, said: "These projects are just the tip of the iceberg as the HRB currently funds research totalling about €100 million throughout the island of Ireland. We're actively working to position Ireland as a key international player in health research."
Dr Mairead O'Driscoll, acting director of research funding at the HRB
Some of the work contained in the book includes a study by researchers at NUI Galway who have discovered nitric oxide can have a significant impact on reducing coronary heart disease. Blocked arteries from heart disease and blood clots leading to strokes are two of the main causes of death in Ireland.
The researchers have found cells lining the arteries naturally produce nitric oxide but those along blocked arteries produce less. Using advanced gene therapies, researchers at NUI Galway are hoping to be able to encourage cells in blocked arteries to produce more nitric oxide.
This would reduce the chance of the arteries becoming blocked after conventional treatment such as inserting a stent.
Researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Beaumont Hospital have identified two possible mechanisms which for the first time could treat the root cause, rather than the symptoms, of cystic fibrosis. It is hoped the first results of the clinical trials under way will be available in 2007.
Cystic fibrosis, which results in a thick mucus affecting the lungs, is the most common life-threatening inherited disease in Ireland as one in 19 Irish adults carry the gene for it.
Elsewhere, dermatologist Dr Fergal Moloney has discovered younger transplant patients can be 200 times more likely to develop skin cancer than healthy people of the same age.
This has been attributed to immunosuppressant drugs that transplant patients have to take to prevent their bodies rejecting their transplanted organs as these also stop their bodies repairing cells damaged by exposure to sunlight.
Irish researchers also found GP-centred care, rather than the traditional hospital based care, could ensure improvements in the quality of life of those being treated for diabetes.
PA