Gov. Bob McDonnell recognizes VCU researcher as one of Virginia’s Outstanding Scientists for 2010

By Sathya Achia Abraham

Gov. Bob McDonnell has named Rakesh C. Kukreja, Ph.D., professor of internal medicine and the Eric Lipman professor in cardiology in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, as one of the state’s Outstanding Scientists of 2010 for his research studying how male impotence drugs can help protect the heart or minimize damage following a heart attack.

Kukreja was recognized for his pioneering work investigating the area of “preconditioning,” a way to protect the heart muscle from serious damage in the future by subjecting it to very brief periods of deprivation of blood flow and, therefore, oxygen.

For the past 25 years, Virginia’s Outstanding Scientist program has honored scientists who excel in research and their commitment to science. The honorees have shown a recent contribution to scientific research that extends the boundaries of any field in science or a technological development.

Through basic research, Kukreja has harnessed an understanding of the mechanisms by which heart cells die due to lack of oxygen and has identified some of the biochemical and molecular signaling pathways involved in preconditioning.

Kukreja, who leads a nationally recognized program in molecular cardiology at the VCU Pauley Heart Center, has received multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association to fund his research in this area for more than 20 years. In 2006, he was awarded a National Institutes of Health MERIT award totaling nearly $4 million to continue research into cardio protection. The award is given to investigators who have demonstrated superior competence and productivity.

Kukreja’s laboratory is one of the first to explore the area of preconditioning. This preconditioning effect was modeled in his lab by “pretreating” mice with doses of Viagra, generically known as sildenafil, which also increases therapeutic levels of nitric oxide in the heart.

A preconditioned or pretreated heart has an improved ability to produce nitric oxide and directly improves a patient’s outcome following a heart attack. Generally, damage following a heart attack is related to an inability to recover from lack of oxygen.

In 2002, Kukreja published results of his research reporting the powerful, protective effect of sildenafil in the heart during experimental heart attacks in animal models. The following year, Kukreja’s group reported that another widely used erectile dysfunction drug, Levitra, generically known as vardenafil, showed similar protective effects to sildenafil.

Sildenafil, vardenafil and tadalafil (Cialis) are compounds belonging to the class of phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors (PDE-5). Read more about Kukreja’s scientific findings here.

Kukreja has published more than 150 articles in top-tier, peer-reviewed journals and has served as an editorial board member on several cardiovascular journals, including Circulation Research, the American Journal of Physiology (Heart & Circulatory Physiology), Molecular Pharmacology, the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, and World Journal of Cardiology. He has contributed great national service with his membership on several National Institutes of Health review panels. As a dedicated teacher, he is also involved in training the next generation of cardiologists and researchers.