A heart attack happens when arteries become clogged, cutting off blood flow and oxygen to the heart. This can lead to serious damage and is the leading cause of death worldwide.
Until now, most research has focused only on the heart itself.
But new findings from the University of California San Diego suggest that heart attacks involve much more than just the heart.
In a new study published in the journal Cell, scientists led by Assistant Professor Vineet Augustine and Postdoctoral Scholar Saurabh Yadav have discovered a deep connection between the heart, brain, and immune system.
Their research shows that a heart attack is not just a problem in the heart—it’s a full-body event involving nerves and immune responses.
Normally, when our body gets hurt or infected, the brain quickly sends out signals to activate the immune system. But during a heart attack, even though there are no viruses or bacteria to fight, the brain still sees it as an injury and calls the immune system into action. This overreaction may actually cause more harm than good.
The researchers studied this process in mice. They found that the vagus nerve—a major nerve that connects the body to the brain—picks up signals of heart damage and sends this information to the brain.
In turn, the brain triggers the immune system to respond. The scientists discovered that if they blocked these signals between the heart and brain, the amount of damage after a heart attack was much smaller.
This new approach is being called the “triple node” model because it includes the heart, the brain, and the immune system all working together in a loop. According to Augustine, this is the first time researchers have looked at heart attacks in such a connected way.
In the past, heart doctors, brain scientists, and immune system experts often worked in separate areas. This new study brought them together to explore the links between their fields.
The researchers used many tools to understand what was happening. These included ultrasound, special kinds of microscopes, and staining methods that helped them see how different parts of the body were reacting during a heart attack.
Their findings could lead to new treatments that are less invasive than current methods like surgery or blood thinners. Instead of only focusing on the heart, future treatments could try to calm down the immune system’s response after a heart attack. By doing so, doctors may be able to prevent extra damage caused by the body’s own defense system.
Yadav explained that stopping these signals could stop the spread of injury after a heart attack. This could change the way doctors treat heart attacks in the future. Instead of focusing only on opening up arteries and fixing the heart, doctors might also try to manage how the brain and immune system respond.
This study opens the door to a new way of thinking about heart attacks—not just as isolated heart problems, but as events that involve the whole body. The research team is continuing to study how this triple-node system works, hoping to find even better ways to protect the heart and improve recovery.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about how eating eggs can help reduce heart disease risk, and herbal supplements could harm your heart rhythm.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how drinking milk affects risks of heart disease and cancer, and results showing strawberries could help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
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