New Advances in Cardiovascular Drugs: In Memory of Professor Akira Endo

Dear Colleagues,

We dedicate this Special Issue in celebration of the 90th birthday of Prof. Akira Endo, an internationally renowned Japanese biochemist whose research into the relationship between fungi and cholesterol biosynthesis led to the development of the first statin (ML-236B; compactin) 50 years ago, providing a relevant contribution to the advance of cardiovascular pharmacology.

Prof. Akira Endo (born 14 November 1933, in Higashiyuri, Northern Japan) developed an interest in fungi since young age, being an admirer of Alexander Fleming. He degreed from the Faculty of Agriculture at Tokohu University in 1957 and started working as a research fellow in the pharmaceutical company Sankyo, in Tokyo. His research focused on fungal enzymes for processing fruit juice, and, due to successful discoveries in the field, moved to New York after receiving his PhD from the Tokohu University in 1966. In New York, he spent 2 years as a research associate at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and worked on cholesterol, before returning to Sankyo’s research laboratories in 1968. It was here that Prof. Endo speculated that some fungi might produce antibiotics to inhibit the enzyme responsible for the rate-limiting step in cholesterol synthesis, 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl (HMG)-CoA reductase, possibly as a defence mechanism against other microbes. Prof. Endo started his exploratory research in April 1971, analysing about 6000 compounds, and discovered the first statin mevastatin (ML-236B; compactin) in 1973. The wind of change that would have brought such a discovery was not yet known. In fact, at that time, little was known about low-density lipoprotein (LDL) regulation mechanisms since Brown and Goldstein only began their studies that would have led to the discovery of LDL receptor in 1972. As statin research gained attention, other pharmaceutical companies joined in and, in 1978, Merck isolated a compactin-like substance from Aspergillus terreus, whilst, simultaneously, the same compound was discovered by Prof. Endo from Monascus ruber, and lovastatin was born. It took over 10 years preclinical and clinical trials before the approval and commercialization of lovastatin that occurred in 1987 in USA, also paving the way for further statin drugs development.

Prof. Endo became an associate professor in the late 1970s and in 1986 a full professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, where he enlightened the minds of young researchers until his retirement. After his official retirement, he became the president of Biopharm Research Laboratories. Thanks to Prof. Endo’s perseverance and enthusiasm in deepening his research, statins are now used to prevent cardiovascular events globally, as well as improving the quality of life of patients.

In this commemorative Special Issue, the scope of which is to detail the advances in cardiovascular drugs in the last few decades, we welcome scientific contributions with the aim of gathering accurate and up-to-date scientific information on laboratory studies of new and upcoming treatment opportunities for cardiovascular diseases. It is my privilege to invite you and your co-workers to share their experience and expertise by submitting original research articles, systematic reviews, and review articles reporting new ideas and recent advances related to this topic.

Dr. Alfredo Caturano
Guest Editor

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• cardiovascular drugs
• statins
• metformin
• SGLT2i
• laboratory
• drug targets
• translational research
• targeted therapy

• New Advance in Cardiovascular Drugs: In Celebration of the 90th Birthday of Professor Akira Endo in Biomedicines (11 articles)