American College of Cardiology

ACC 49th Annual Scientific Session
Late-Breaking Clinical Trials
in Interventional Cardiology (#72)
Sunday, March 12, 2000 (8:45 a.m.-10:00 a.m.)

(ANAHEIM, CALIF.)—Heparin has been used for decades to help keep blood from forming clots, which can cause heart attacks and strokes and are a major reason angioplasty procedures sometimes fail. But because heparin has some limitations that can make it difficult to use, researchers have been looking for alternative anticoagulants that might work better. A bioengineered variant of a natural human blood protein is under study in the hope that it can do the job of heparin without its drawbacks.

At the American College of Cardiology 49th Annual Scientific Session in Anaheim, Calif., Dr. A. Michael Lincoff, of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, will present a randomized study of “modified factor 7” as a partial substitute for heparin in patients undergoing coronary angioplasty or stenting. “The study is the first experience using this form of anticoagulant in humans,” he said.

“Modified factor 7” is a bioengineered variant of natural human factor 7, which is a protein the body uses to trigger the biochemical processes involved in clotting. The bioengineered protein works like an anticoagulant, Dr. Lincoff said, because it competes with the body's natural factor 7 in biochemical reactions. It thereby interrupts the enzymatic processes that are supposed to form clots.

“The study's main goal is to determine whether you can use modified factor 7 safely, whether it prevents clots too well or not enough, and what sort of dosage range should be used,” Dr. Lincoff said. He will present the results on Sunday, March 12, at 9:30 a.m.