Protein discovery could be key to preventing heart complications of sepsis

Proteins in the blood called histones, which are released from damaged tissues during sepsis, can cause life-threatening heart failure, according to new research from the University of Liverpool. The finding that histones affect the heart's ability to pump, points the way toward a new treatment against the deadly effects of a septic infection. Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused by the body's response to an infection. It leads to more than 100,000 people being admitted to hospital in the UK each year. Over a third (around 37,000) of people admitted with sepsis die, more than from any single type of cancer. Heart damage While previous research showed a link between elevated levels of histones in the blood and heart damage in patients with sepsis, it was not clear how histones were harmful to the heart. Now the Liverpool team, led by Professor Cheng-Hock Toh and Dr Guozheng Wang from the University's Institute of Infection and Global Health , have found how histones affect the heart in mice.