Method for treating heart failure by inhibiting the sarcolemmal sodium/calcium exchange

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method of enhancing cardiac contractility in a subject with heart failure. The method consists of administering a compound that inhibits the sarcolemmal sodium/calcium exchanger, whose activity is elevated in heart failure. This method results in correction of cellular calcium handling and enhancement of cardiac contractility to healthy levels. This method can be used for treatment of acute heart failure, cardiogenic shock and congestive heart failure.

1 . A method of treating or preventing heart failure in a subject, comprising:
 enhancing cardiac contractility by inhibiting a sarcolemmal sodium/calcium exchanger.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the heart failure is a congestive heart failure. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the heart failure is an acute heart failure 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the acute heart failure is a cardiogenic shock. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the congestive heart failure is caused by a cardiomyopathy. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the cardiomyopathy is a dilative cardiomyopathy. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the cardiomyopathy is a restrictive cardiomyopathy. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the cardiomyopathy is a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method comprises administering to the subject an effective amount of a composition useful to inhibit the sarcolemmal sodium/calcium exchanger. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the composition comprises at least one peptide. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the peptide has the formula RRLLFYKYVYKRYRAGKQRG (SEQ ID NO: 1). 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method comprises enhancing cardiac contractility by inhibiting the sarcolemmal sodium/calcium exchanger using a gene transfer. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the gene is coding for a peptide useful to inhibit the sarcolemmal sodium/calcium exchanger. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , when the gene is coding for the peptide with the formula RRLLFYKYVYKRYRAGKQRG (SEQ ID NO: 1). 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method comprises enhancing cardiac contractility by inhibiting the sarcolemmal sodium/calcium exchanger using RNA interference techniques. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method comprises enhancing cardiac contractility by inhibiting the sarcolemmal sodium/calcium exchanger using anti-sense nucleotide techniques. 
     
     
         17 . A pharmaceutical composition useful for treating or preventing heart failure comprising at least one peptide useful to inhibit the sarcolemmal sodium/calcium exchanger in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. 
     
     
         18 . The composition according to  claim 17  wherein the peptide has the formula RRLLFYKYVYKRYRAGKQRG (SEQ ID NO: 1).