Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.4.15.1 (ACE)
18,300 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Heart failure affects more than 350,000 Canadians and costs over $1 billion annually for inpatient care alone. Consensus guidelines have been developed to guide care and improve quality of life based on current evidence or best practice. This article will provide a brief overview of medications and lifestyle modifications described in guidelines developed by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association, the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, the Heart Failure Society of America, and the European Society of Cardiology. Medications for treating heart failure can be divided into two groups: those with a mortality benefit (angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, beta-blockers, and selective aldosterone receptor antagonists), and those that improve symptoms (diuretics and cardiac glycosides). Nursing implications include careful assessment of volume status, vital signs, monitoring electrolyte and renal function, as well as spacing of medications. Nurses play a key role in assisting patients to identify their lifestyle habits that require modifications, ultimately improving their quality of life and decreasing hospital readmissions. Education focusing on self-care activities, diet, rest, and exercise enables patients to retain a sense of control in their lives.
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PMID:Heart failure: an overview of consensus guidelines and nursing implications. 1280 36

Outcome studies in diabetic nephropathy have focused on strategies to prevent progression of diabetic nephropathy, the leading cause of ESRD in the United States. Once diabetics develop overt nephropathy, prognosis is poor. Risk factors for diabetic nephropathy are discussed, and include hyperglycemia, hypertension, angiotensin II, proteinuria, dyslipidemia, smoking, and anemia. Major outcomes as well as outcome studies in diabetic nephropathy for patients with microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria are reviewed. Furthermore, the role of therapy with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers, and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists as well as selected combination therapy are discussed. Recommendations for therapy with ace inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers are made based on this evidence.
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PMID:Outcome studies in diabetic nephropathy. 1283 94

Structural homogeneity of cardiac tissue is governed by mechanical and humoral factors that regulate cell growth, apoptosis, phenotype, and extracellular matrix turnover. ANGII has endocrine, autocrine, and paracrine properties that influence the behavior of cardiac cells and matrix by AT1 receptor binding. Various paradigms have been suggested, including ANGII-mediated up-regulation of collagen types I and III formation and deposition in cardiac conditions, such as HHD. A growing body of evidence, however, deals with the potential role of aldosterone, either local or systemic, in inducing cardiac fibrosis. Aldosterone might also mediate the profibrotic actions of ANGII. To reduce the risk of heart failure that accompanies HHD, its adverse structural remodeling (eg, myocardial hypertrophy and fibrosis) must be targeted for pharmacologic intervention. Cardioprotective agents must reverse not only the exaggerated growth of cardiac cells, but also regress existing abnormalities in fibrillar collagen. Available experimental and clinical data suggest that agents interfering with ACE, the AT1 receptor, or the mineralocorticoid receptor may provide such a cardioprotective effect.
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PMID:Fibrosis in hypertensive heart disease: role of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. 1487 Oct 52

The presence of inadequately controlled hypertension in a diabetic patient with clinical signs of renal involvement portends a poor prognosis. Initial assessment should include ruling out factors which may exacerbate the hypertension and careful assessment of the stage of hypertension, renal function and amount of proteinuria. Intensive treatment requires finding a combination of medications which will reduce not only blood pressure but also proteinuria. It is suggested that treatment should be started with an ACE inhibitor or an AT1 receptor blocker often in a fixed combination with a low-dose thiazide diuretic. Calcium channel blockers and beta-blockers may be added if required as second or third-line agents. In patients not responding to this combination, the dosages of the ACE inhibitor or AT1 blocker should be titrated upwards in order to obtain the maximal therapeutic effect. However, if this is still insufficient, dual blockade of the RAS should be considered and even an aldosterone receptor blocker may need to be added to the therapeutic regimen. It should be remembered that such a patient requires close monitoring in order to be sure that he is compliant with respect to the prescribed treatment and that there are no side-effects such as hyperkalaemia.
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PMID:Dual blockade of the renin-angiotensin system in diabetic nephropathy. 1508 32

Aldosterone blockade has been shown to be effective in reducing total mortality as well as hospitalization for heart failure in patients with systolic left ventricular dysfunction (SLVD) due to chronic heart failure and in patients with SLVD post acute myocardial infarction. The evidence for the effectiveness of aldosterone blockade in chronic heart failure comes from the randomized aldactone evaluation study (RALES) while that for patients post infarction from the eplerenone post acute myocardial infarction efficacy and survival study (EPHESUS). These studies suggest that mineralocorticoid receptor activation remains important despite the use of an angiotensin converting enzyme-inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocking (ARB) agent and a beta blocker. Increasing evidence suggest that aldosterone blockade has important effects not only on the kidney but on ventricular remodeling, myocardial fibrosis, autonomic balance, fibrinolysis, oxidative stress, and activation of the NF-kappaB and AP-1 signaling pathways. The results of these studies in patients with SLVD has important implications not only for patients with chronic heart failure and post infarction but also for the therapy of patients with essential hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases.
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PMID:Effect of aldosterone blockade in patients with systolic left ventricular dysfunction: implications of the RALES and EPHESUS studies. 1513 1

Half a century after the elucidation of its molecular structure, aldosterone is generating the greatest interest, not in the fields of endocrinology or renal medicine but in cardiology-where aldosterone over-activation is now perceived as detrimental in heart failure (HF) and ischaemic heart disease. Clinically, excess aldosterone is associated with higher morbidity and mortality after myocardial infarction (MI) and HF. The Randomised Aldactone Evaluation Study (RALES) study in severe chronic heart failure and the Eplerenone Post-Acute Myocardial Infarction Heart Failure Efficacy and Survival (EPHESUS) study in post-MI heart failure have shown that use of non-selective and selective aldosterone receptor antagonists, respectively, improves prognosis. The pathophysiological mechanisms underpinning these damaging aldosterone-mediated cardiovascular effects are still being elucidated, but prime candidates include cardiomyocyte necrosis and apoptosis, and myocardial fibrosis resulting in adverse cardiac remodelling, coronary vasculopathy, tachyarrhythmia and positive feedback activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Practical points for consideration when instigating therapy include preferential use of aldosterone receptor antagonists to maintain electrolyte balance whenever loop or thiazide diuretics are used (vulnerable HF patients require higher ranges of potassium and magnesium to minimise propensity for tachyarrthythmia), for renoprotection and for counteracting aldosterone breakthrough despite adequate ACE inhibition; use of the minimum doses of loop diuretics required to lessen activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in HF; use of selective aldosterone receptor antagonists to avoid gynaecomastia/mastalgia and impotence; and prophylactic use of aldosterone receptor antagonists to improve prognosis.
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PMID:Fiftieth anniversary of aldosterone: from discovery to cardiovascular therapy. 1531 May 30

Aldosterone production in the heart as well as aldosterone plasma levels are increased after myocardial infarction and in congestive heart failure, correlating with the severity of disease. Aldosterone promotes sodium and water retention, sympathoadrenergic activation, endothelial dysfunction, and cardiovascular fibrosis and hypertrophy. Even maximally recommended doses of ACE inhibitors do not completely prevent formation of aldosterone. The Randomized Aldactone Evaluation Study (RALES) and the Eplerenone Post acute myocardial infarction Heart failure Efficacy and SUrvival Study (EPHESUS) demonstrated that aldosterone receptor blockade markedly reduces mortality among patients with heart failure. This review summarizes recent clinical and experimental data on the effect of aldosterone antagonists on left ventricular remodeling and function in ischemic heart failure with special emphasis on potential underlying mechanisms. While reduction of excessive extracellular matrix turnover leading to decreased fibrosis appears to be the most important effect of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism in heart failure, other mechanisms such as regression of hypertrophy, improvement of endothelial function, reduction of superoxide formation, and enhanced renal sodium excretion may contribute. Recent data showed that in rats with left ventricular dysfunction after extensive myocardial infarction, eplerenone on top of ACE inhibition more effectively improved cardiac remodeling and molecular alterations than ACE inhibition alone.
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PMID:Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonism and cardiac remodeling in ischemic heart failure. 1532 Jul 79

Elevated peripheral vascular tone has been proposed as one of the detrimental factors causing increased cardiac after load and reduced exercise capacity in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). A number of studies have shown impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation in limb resistance and conduit vessels in CHF, suggesting that this is one of the important etiologies of vascular dysfunction. Several clinical trials have shown that pharmacological inhibition of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system by angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor antagonists, or aldosterone receptor antagonists, significantly improves prognosis in this disorder. However, the relationship between the clinical utility of this type of drug and its pharmacological effects on the peripheral vasculature has not been extensively assessed in patients with CHF. The present review summarizes recent reports including our own observations on the pharmacological effects and mechanisms of this type of drug on vascular endothelial function in the peripheral vasculature in human CHF.
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PMID:Pharmacological modulations of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in human congestive heart failure: effects on peripheral vascular endothelial function. 1532 Aug 34

Aldosterone is one the representative cardiovascular hormones involved in the blood pressure and body-fluid homeostasis. Elevation of aldosterone leads to systemic hypertension through its action on the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) in the kidney. More recent studies demonstrated that aldosterone may produce target organ damage through its direct actions on the non-epithelial MR of the heart in addition to its systemic effects. Clinical experience in primary aldosteronism supports the concept that aldosterone is a risk factor of cardiovascular complications, since concentric type of cardiac hypertrophy is most common in primary aldosteronism among various types of endocrine hypertension. Clinical mega-trial in congestive heart failure (RALES study, EPHESUS study) demonstrated blocking angiotensin II action is not sufficient for cardioprotection unless aldosterone action is equally blocked. An important phenomenon related to this issue is the aldosterone breakthrough which implies a reelevation of plasma aldosterone during chronic administration of ACE inhibitors and Angiotensin receptor antagonists. Normal level of aldosterone could still be a risk factor. Combination of ACE inhibitor or ARB with aldosterone antagonist could result in a better cardioprotection in cardiovascular diseases. Although spironolactone has been the only one aldosterone antagonist, a new antagonist eplerenone has been developed. Eplerenone is specific to MR and is practically devoid of the major side effect gynecomastia of spironolactone. Another topic of aldosterone is its very quick cardiovascular effect presumably via a non-genomic action. All these recent findings support that this adrenocortical steroid hormone is as important as angiotensin II. Determining aldosterone levels is therefore much morel important than before in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
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PMID:[Aldosterone]. 1547 26

Cells in the cortical collecting duct of distal nephron have been considered for a long time as the unique cellular targets of aldosterone. However, it is now clear that other cell types in non-epithelial tissues are also potential targets for aldosterone. The functions that this hormone controls in non-epithelial tissues are still a matter of debate. Clinical and experimental studies have established that aldosterone plays a major role in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular and renal diseases. The aldosterone receptor antagonists spironolactone and eplerenone have demonstrated specific effects not related to their hypotensive properties in hypertension or cardiac diseases. It appears that a key action of these molecules is related to prevention or treatment of end-organ damage. The latter fact, and the recognition of aldosterone escape on long-term treatment of heart failure, diabetic nephropathy and some forms of hypertension with ACE inhibitors, justify the clinical use of aldosterone receptor antagonists provided that kaliemia is controlled. Experimental studies have allowed to draw a still incomplete but comprehensive scheme of aldosterone cardiovascular actions in pathological conditions. When elevated, aldosterone has deleterious effects in blood vessels, in the heart and in kidney, which are secondary to the induction of inflammatory and oxidative processes and necrosis, that induce the increased synthesis of extracellular matrix proteins.
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PMID:Aldosterone and anti-aldosterone effects in cardiovascular diseases and diabetic nephropathy. 1552 73


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