Project Summary
Development and pre-clinical evaluation of novel anti-clotting therapies for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke.
What is the issue for NSW?
Ischemic stroke affects 50 000 Australians every year and is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. One-in-four patients require support in their daily activities and a further quarter live in a nursing home. Half of all stroke patients have cognitive impairment at 6 months and 15-30% develop dementia.
Existing stroke therapies aim to either dissolve or remove the blood clot which blocks blood supply to part of the brain. These therapies are not optimal, with high rates of re-occlusion of unblocked arteries or a failure to fully dissolve the clot. The addition of other anti-clotting drugs is useful in patients with heart attacks, however when used in stroke, is associated with high rates of bleeding in the brain even when blocked arteries are reopened. There is therefore a need for new, safer anti-clotting therapies which can be used in stroke to help the thousands of patients affected every year.
What does the research aim to do and how?
This project aims to build on our success in developing safer antiplatelet therapy to expand to develop new anti-clotting therapies by synthesising new chemical compounds which will then be tested in pre-clinical models of stroke.
This research will
- Find out if the combination of novel antiplatelet and anticoagulant drugs enhance the effect of thrombolysis in stroke.
- Find out which novel anticoagulant approach (direct thrombin vs factor XII), and which anticoagulant is more effective/safer.
- Find out if stent thrombosis can be prevented with combination antithrombotics.
Collaborating Organisations:
The Heart Research Institute
Charles Perkins Centre
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science
The University of Sydney