[ad_1]
A pioneering "Holy Grail" therapy could repair the deadly damage caused by a heart attack by injecting a gene to revive the growth that stops when we are babies
- Scientists at King & # 39; s College London said their research was "exciting" progress
- Millions of people around the world suffer from heart failure caused by a damaged tissue
- The experts were able to restore the pork heart so that it will work again in a few weeks
A cure for heart failure "Holy Grail" could be considered after scientists have discovered how to regenerate specialized cells in the muscle.
A study on pigs revealed that the injection of the gene responsible for cell growth in childhood could restore damaged tissue during a heart attack.
Currently, people who have a heart attack end up with scarring plaques that last forever and can lead to heart failure or even death.
Scientists have failed to find a way to restore or remove this dead tissue and to make sure that the organ is functioning normally again – but this discovery could change that.
By relaunching a growth process that ends when people are babies, experts can force the heart to rebuild itself and get healthy in a few weeks.
Scientists have performed tests on the heart of pigs to discover that the injection of a particular gene, called miR-199a, could revive the growth of specialized heart cells that typically stop during the day. 39; childhood. (Image Image)
Researchers at King & # 39; s College in London injected the gene into pigs' hearts and found that their heart function returned to normal one month after a heart attack.
And, because of the similarities between hearts of hearts and humans, scientists hope that an identical treatment can be applied to people in a decade.
"It's a very exciting time for the field," said Professor Mauro Giacca, principal investigator of the study.
"After so many unsuccessful attempts to regenerate the heart with the help of stem cells, all of which have failed so far, we are witnessing for the first time true cardiac repair in a large animal."
This innovative treatment could someday offer hope to people with heart failure, a deadly disease that affects more than 23 million people worldwide.
In the UK, more than 900,000 people have this condition, which often follows a heart attack and occurs when the body is too damaged to pump blood properly.
In their study, the researchers were able to inject a gene called human microRNA-199a (AAV6-miR-199a) into the heart of pigs after a heart attack.
They discovered that this gene stimulates the heart to repair itself by reviving the reproduction of specialized cardiac cells called cardiomyocytes.
Cardiomyocytes are almost all developed while a person is still a fetus – with extra growth after birth – and has to last the rest of his life.
Scientists have so far failed to find a way to successfully replicate mature versions of cells to regenerate the heart.
But a few weeks after the miR-199a gene was injected into the pig, their cardiac function was normal again.
However, there was a fatal hiccup – the scientists could not stop the remodeling and the hearts of the pigs created so many new cells that most of the animals died.
The team now hopes to be able to test a new version of the gene that will shut down after two weeks, the newspaper i reported.
"A treatment that helps the heart repair itself after a heart attack is the holy grail of cardiologists," said British Heart Foundation President Ajay Shah.
"This study convincingly demonstrates for the first time that this could actually be achievable and not just a chimera."
Professor Giacca said that more tests and development are needed, but he is confident that the treatment could be available for people 10 years from now.
He added, "It will take some time before we can proceed to clinical trials.
"We still have to learn to administer RNA as a synthetic molecule in large animals and then in patients, but we already know that it works well in mice."
[ad_2]
Source link