British Heart Foundation Heart Hero Awards highlight breakthrough pioneers

The event allows the public to vote on three BHF-funded research projects addressing some of the biggest challenges in cardiovascular disease.

The team headed by Greenstein, professor of medicine at Manchester university, pinpointed the impact of high blood pressure on communication between the cells comprising the arteries in the brain.  

Blood flow within the brain is regulated by two cell structures that transmit messages that tell arteries to dilate as blood pressure increases, to permit more blood to flow through.

However, via tests on mice, Greenstein’s team identified that the two structures moved further apart when blood pressure remains consistently high. This stops messages reaching their target. sing Arteries then stay constricted because the vital messages are not communicated and blood flow is not increased. 

If results can be confirmed in humans, the hope is that drugs that could restore this communication and thus improve blood supply to affected areas in the brain, slowing the progression of vascular dementia. 

Said Greenstein, on receiving his award: “The team and I are delighted to have been chosen as the winners of the British Heart Foundations Research Story of the Year award. 

“Our research marks a revolutionary step forward in understanding the vascular causes of dementia by uncovering new routes for drugs which could slow the progression of this devastating condition.”  

He added that none of the research breakthroughs would have been possible without the BHF having funded his research for 12 years. Dementia in the over 65’s was largely a vascular illness, said Greenstein, adding, “together with the British Heart Foundation we are going to stop it in its tracks”.

Two other studies, led by BHF-funded teams were named runners up. Dr George Joy at University College London, who was honoured for his use of two types of advanced heart scan to help doctors to detect the earliest signs and symptoms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) commented:

“Our research deploys new technology capable of detecting which patients without symptoms or heart muscle thickening have abnormal changes not visible by the naked eye. This means that we can catch hypertrophic cardiomyopathy at a much earlier stage.  

“We are another step closer to providing a new way to alert clinicians to patients most at risk of life-changing complications and who may benefit from earlier treatment, before lasting heart-muscle damage occurs. It was inspirational to work with people living with or have been affected by HCM; their selflessness in helping us with our study was incredible.”   

Meanwhile, Oxford university’s professor of cardiovascular medicine Charalambos Antoniades was shortlisted for his research to create an AI tool that could transform treatment by predicting 10-year heart attack risk in patients undergoing CT scans for chest pain.   

It demonstrated that patients with the highest levels of inflammation were at highest risk of heart attacks cardiac death in the years following their scan; his team developed an AI algorithm to predict cardiac events at least ten years in advance and resulting in spin-out company Caristo Diagnostics. 

“Our research helps clinicians paint a clearer picture of a patient's heart attack risk, allowing earlier prevention and treatment strategies to be implemented,” said Antoniades.