A new drug being tested in heart attack patients could change how doctors treat one of the most dangerous types of heart attacks.
This drug seems to train the immune system to avoid harmful inflammation and instead help the heart heal.
If successful, it could become a life-saving treatment for many people.
Heart attacks are a major health problem around the world.
Thanks to better medical care, people are now much more likely to survive a heart attack than they were 50 years ago. In fact, death from heart attacks has dropped by almost 90%.
But there’s a problem: more people are now dying from heart failure, a condition that often follows a heart attack. Over the same time period, deaths from heart failure have more than doubled.
This is especially true after a very serious kind of heart attack called an ST-elevation myocardial infarction, or STEMI. This is sometimes called a “widow-maker” because it happens when a major artery to the heart suddenly gets blocked.
While patients often survive, their hearts can still be damaged badly, partly because of the body’s own immune response.
Dr. Daniel Donner from the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Australia led a team of over 30 researchers to study a new treatment that could solve this problem. Their findings were published in the journal JACC: Basic to Translational Science.
After a heart attack, the immune system sends out cells called macrophages to deal with the injury. But these cells often overreact. They cause too much inflammation and bring in even more immune cells, which can make the damage worse. The heart then struggles to heal properly, and over time, this can lead to heart failure.
Dr. Donner’s team found a way to stop this harmful chain reaction. They used a special antibody that blocks a molecule on macrophages called CD14. This molecule acts like an antenna, picking up signals that tell the immune system to create inflammation.
By blocking CD14, the antibody helps change how the macrophages behave. Instead of making things worse, the immune cells now focus on helping the heart heal.
This method is different from other immune-suppressing drugs, which can be risky. Those drugs turn off large parts of the immune system, making it harder to fight infections and repair tissue. But this new antibody doesn’t get rid of the macrophages. It just changes their job—from damaging the heart to helping it recover.
Professor Kory Lavine from Washington University in St. Louis helped with the study. He explained that CD14 plays a big role in both inflammation and scarring after a heart attack. Because this drug targets CD14 specifically, it avoids the dangers of full immune suppression.
The drug being tested is called atibuclimab. It’s made by an Australian company named Implicit Bioscience Ltd. Right now, clinical trials are happening in the United States. So far, 14 patients who recently had a heart attack or worsening heart failure have received the treatment—and they’re all doing well.
What’s more, doctors have discovered a blood test that can help predict which patients will benefit most from the drug. This is a big step forward because it means doctors can give the right treatment to the right person at the right time.
If the trials continue to go well, larger studies will be done around the world to test how well atibuclimab works in more patients.
In summary, this study shows exciting progress in treating severe heart attacks. By training the immune system to help instead of harm, this drug may offer a safer way to prevent heart failure and give patients a better chance at recovery. More research is still needed, but the early results are full of hope.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about a new cause of heart rhythm disorders and eating just one cup of nitrate-rich vegetables daily can reduce heart disease risk.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about blood thinners that may not prevent stroke in people with heartbeat problems and this diabetes drug may protect heart health in older veterans.
The study is published in JACC: Basic to Translational Science.
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