Heart attack survivors may have a better life expectancy as scientists develop a new treatment that can repair damaged heart tissue.
Human hearts are very bad at repairing themselves: After a heart attack, scar tissue is left behind, which is less resilient.
But now scientists from Germany, Sweden and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca have developed a new therapy that can do this more efficiently using stem cells.
Using human ventricular progenitor (HVP) cells, they were able to regenerate heart cells in pigs.
These cells play a crucial role in organ formation during development and can differentiate into specialized heart cells when needed.
Reported in the journal Nature Cell Biology, the scientists hope to launch human clinical trials within the next two years.
Human hearts are very bad at repairing themselves: After a heart attack, scar tissue is left behind, which is less resilient. But now scientists have developed a new stem cell therapy (stock)
Previous studies using heart cells grown from stem cells had caused patients to experience side effects such as irregular heartbeat and deadly arrhythmias.
The new approach uses the more flexible HVP cell.
Scientists have studied the complex molecular processes involved in repairing damaged areas of the heart muscle.
The study was done by researchers from the Technical University of Munich, the Swedish Karolinska Institute and the Covid injection AstraZeneca.
TUM Professor Karl Laugwitz said: “In laboratory research we have been able to show how HVPs can somehow detect damaged areas in the heart, migrate to injury sites and transform into functioning heart cells” and scar tissue formation.
The team used pigs to study the effectiveness of treating a damaged heart because of their physiological resemblance to humans.
The researchers said their results show that heart damage can be reliably repaired, even in large animals, without serious side effects.
Dr. Regina Fritsche-Danielson, Head of Research and Early Development at AstraZeneca, said: “The treatment has successfully demonstrated the formation of new heart tissue, and most importantly, improvement of heart function and reduction of scar tissue.”
Professor Kenneth Chien of the Karolinska Institute added: “This is the culmination of two decades of work to find the ideal cell to rebuild the heart.”
The next step will be to translate the results of their current research to develop a treatment for human heart patients in the coming years.
Many heart diseases lead to the death of heart muscle cells and blood vessels.
They are replaced by fibrotic scar tissue, which causes further deterioration of heart function.
Source: Daily Mail
I am Anne Johnson and I work as an author at the Fashion Vibes. My main area of expertise is beauty related news, but I also have experience in covering other types of stories like entertainment, lifestyle, and health topics. With my years of experience in writing for various publications, I have built strong relationships with many industry insiders. My passion for journalism has enabled me to stay on top of the latest trends and changes in the world of beauty.
