Scientists are trying to “turn back time” for human hearts, offering patients heart rejuvenation even after serious injury.
These treatments could represent new hope for heart disease patients, even after a heart attack. However, researchers still have much to prove, and clinical trials for these treatments are years away. Whether they will become viable treatments for heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, remains to be seen. according to Futurism.
However, early animal tests show promising results for heart rejuvenation, suggesting a possibility of reversing cardiac damage currently considered irreversible.
Researchers in several countries are working on different methods for rejuvenating the heart
One promising method involves using microRNAs to force heart cells to start multiplying again. Early experiments by researchers at King’s College London (England) in pigs have shown that such therapy could improve the heart’s pumping function, but researchers are still working on a more effective method of administration.
At Scripps Research (USA), scientists are exploring the use of drugs that target proteins responsible for cell growth, with the goal of stimulating patients’ hearts to grow physically. Early tests in mice and pigs showed almost complete recovery of pumping capacity after a heart attack.
Heart disease does not necessarily mean death
Another approach involves stem cell therapies that can generate new heart cells, which can then be grafted onto the damaged heart, encouraging it to “remuscularize”. Chuck Murry, a stem cell researcher at the University of Southern California (USA), found that his treatment allowed the macaques’ hearts to regain their full pumping capacity.
However, Murry and his team found that the new cells caused arrhythmias because they beat at a rhythm of their own. However, he hopes to begin human clinical trials in 2026.
“Society has come to accept the idea of dying from heart disease. It doesn’t have to be like that because we can do something about it now,” he said.
A more experimental approach involves growing “custom hearts” in the lab, using cultured human stem cells. Doris Taylor, CEO of Organamet Bio, said it hopes to begin human clinical trials in about five years.
None of these treatments may prove effective, but they represent a promising new area of research, one that could make a difference in the treatment of heart disease in the near future.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
