HHMI researchers have discovered a genetic mutation that
damages heart muscle so that it dilates to the point where the heart can no longer pump blood.The discovery may have immediate significance...
The breakthrough may
enable damaged heart muscle to be repaired by converting the structural cells in the heart called fibroblasts into the cardiomyocytes that make the heart beat.
«It is our hope that Dr. Yin's research will lead to additional potential therapeutic agents like ZF143 to reactivate mechanisms for the repair and regeneration
of damaged heart muscle tissue in humans.»
According to researchers, the potential savings from this medical therapy intervention may go far beyond the low cost of metoprolol itself, since patients experiencing less -
extensively damaged heart muscle are less likely to need more costly treatments such as an implantable defibrillator or to require costly hospitalization for treatment of heart failure.
About 720,000 people experience a heart attack annually in the United States, which means that hundreds of thousands of people each year could benefit from a therapy to repair and
regenerate damaged heart muscle.
While this is welcome proof that the heart can regenerate enough to maintain itself, the slow rate of turnover — about 0.5 to 1 % per year — is far too low to
repair damaged heart muscle.
Steroids also increase the risk that blood clots will form in blood vessels, potentially disrupting blood flow and
damaging the heart muscle so that it does not pump blood effectively.
The resulting lack of adequate blood flow can
damage heart muscle and other tissues by depriving them of oxygen.
Many people with heart injuries from heart attacks or birth defects could benefit from the «self - therapeutic» process of injecting healthy cells into
the damaged heart muscle.
If this happens, it can
damage heart muscle and block small blood vessels.
«Abrupt reperfusion by angioplasty may
itself damage the heart muscle,» said Thomas Engstrøm, M.D., Ph.D., of Rigshospitalet University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and lead author of the study.
Investigators who studied a group of recreational marathon runners have established that strenuous exercise such as running a marathon can
damage the heart muscle.
Because humans have a limited capacity for heart tissue regeneration,
damaged heart muscle is normally replaced with a nonfunctional scar.
«Heart attacks are caused by blocked arteries in the heart that lead to chest pain and
damage heart muscle,» says Berry.
Parvovirus also attacks the white blood cells, and when young animals are infected, the virus can
damage the heart muscle and cause lifelong cardiac problems.
After a dog becomes infected, the virus can
damage their heart muscle and cause lifelong cardiac problems.