Washington, May 31 : Researchers have discovered that a cancer drug can help restore the functioning of a heart facing failure risk due to high blood pressure.

The drug, a type of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor has been shown to reverse the harmful effects of autophagy in heart muscle cells of mice.

It is being evaluated in numerous ongoing clinical trials.

Autophagy is described as a natural process by which cells eat their own proteins to provide needed resources in times of stress.

"This opens the way for a new therapeutic strategy in hypertensive heart disease, one we can test for potential to promote regression of heart disease," said Dr. Joseph Hill, chief of cardiology and director of the Harry S. Moss Heart Center at UT Southwestern.

For the test, researchers engineered mice with overactive autophagy and induced hypertrophy leading to heart failure. They then gave the mice an HDAC inhibitor known to limit autophagy.

"The heart decreased back to near its normal size, and heart function that had previously been declining went back to normal," Dr. Hill said.

"That is a powerful observation where disease regression, not just disease prevention, was seen," he added.

The new study appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (ANI)