May 8, 2019
King's College London
Researchers have found that
therapy that can induce heart cells to regenerate after a heart attack.
Researchers from King's
College London have found that therapy that can induce heart cells to
regenerate after a heart attack.
Myocardial infarction, more
commonly known as a heart attack, caused by the sudden blocking of one of the
cardiac coronary arteries, is the main cause of heart failure, a condition that
now affects over 23 million population in the world, according to the World
Health Organisation.
At present, when a patient
survives a heart attack, they are left with permanent structural damage to
their heart through the formation of a scar, which can lead to heart failure in
the future. In contrast to fish and salamander, which can regenerate the heart
throughout life.
In this study, published today
in Nature, the team of investigators delivered a small piece of genetic
material, called microRNA-199, to the heart of pigs, after a myocardial
infarction which resulted in the almost complete recovery of cardiac function
at one month later.
Lead author Professor Mauro
Giacca, from King's College London said: "It is a very exciting moment for
the field. After so many unsuccessful attempts at regenerating the heart using
stem cells, which all have failed so far, for the first time we see real
cardiac repair in a large animal."
This is the first
demonstration that cardiac regeneration can be achieved by administering an
effective genetic drug that stimulates cardiac regeneration in a large animal,
with heart anatomy and physiology like that of humans.
"It will take some time
before we can proceed to clinical trials" explained Professor Giacca.
"We still need to learn
how to administer the RNA as a synthetic molecule in large animals and then in
patients, but we already know this works well in mice."
Story Source:
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Journal Reference:
Khatia Gabisonia, Giulia
Prosdocimo, Giovanni Donato Aquaro, Lucia Carlucci, Lorena Zentilin, Ilaria
Secco, Hashim Ali, Luca Braga, Nikoloz Gorgodze, Fabio Bernini, Silvia
Burchielli, Chiara Collesi, Lorenzo Zandonà, Gianfranco Sinagra, Marcello
Piacenti, Serena Zacchigna, Rossana Bussani, Fabio A. Recchia & Mauro
Giacca. MicroRNA therapy stimulates uncontrolled cardiac repair after
myocardial infarction in pigs. Nature, 2019 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1191-6
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