LAUSR

A clinical trial of more than 10,000 heart attack patients has confirmed cardiologists9 long-standing suspicion that inflammation helps trigger heart attacks. By giving patients an antibody targeting a key molecule in the inflammatory pathway, investigators reduced heart disease and stroke by 15%, they reported last week. The finding won9t immediately lead to new treatments, because the effect was modest, and the drug is pricy and can cause serious side effects. But the result is a proof of principle, and likely to spur development of inflammation-targeting therapies. The trial also recorded fewer cases of lung cancer in those on the treatment, consistent with basic research findings hinting that the same inflammatory pathway may initiate or spur tumor growth.