In a new study, researchers found a new gene therapy may help heal damages caused by a heart attack.
They found that the therapy could induce heart cells to regenerate after a heart attack.
The research was conducted by a team from King’s College London.
A heart attack is usually caused by the sudden blocking of one of the cardiac coronary arteries. It is the main cause of heart failure.
It is estimated that heart attacks affect over 23 million population in the world.
When a patient survives a heart attack, there will be permanent structural damage in their heart through the formation of a scar. The scar can lead to heart failure in the future.
In the current study, the team delivered a small piece of genetic material, called microRNA-199, to the heart of pigs.
The animals survived a myocardial infarction and had an almost complete recovery of heart function at one month later.
The team found that the gene therapy regenerated the heart using stem cells and repair the damaged heart.
According to the team, this is the first study showing that cardiac regeneration can be achieved via an effective genetic drug.
The drug can stimulate cardiac regeneration in a large animal, with heart anatomy and physiology like that of humans.
Future work needs to know how to administer the RNA as a synthetic molecule in large animals and then in patients.
The lead author of the study is Professor Mauro Giacca, from King’s College London.
The study is published in Nature.
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