“The Holy Grail of heart research”: Hearts can repair themselves, study shows
Participants in a test event for the Marathon on the The Mall, on May 30, 2011 in London, England, where scientists have discovered that hearts can repair themselves.
In research with mice, scientists have discovered that hearts can repair themselves and they have isolated a molecule to trigger the process, the Mirror reported.
The researchers at University College London looked at a group of cells which are able to transform into different types of heart tissue in an embryo, according to BBC News. In adults, epicardium-derived progenitor cells line the heart, but they have become dormant. Scientists used a chemical, thymosin beta 4, to "wake them up."
The British Heart Foundation, which funded the study, described repair as the "holy grail of heart research," but said that treatment in humans was years away.
Although the research hasn't yet been translated to humans and is in its very early stages, the results suggested that in the future, a drug could be developed to prime and prompt hearts damaged by cardiac arrest into repairing themselves, Reuters said.
The results showed that the mouse hearts improved 25% in over a month, the Mirror said. Scientists are confident they can regrow the human muscle.
The damage caused by a heart attack had previously been considered permanent, BBC News said. But the study, published in the journal Nature, showed that thymosin beta 4, if used before a heart attack, was able to "prime" the heart for repair.
The mice needed to take the drug before a heart attack in order for the treatment to work. As the researchers put it, "the priming effect is key."
If a similar drug could be found to be effective in humans, then the researchers believe it would need to be prescribed in the way that statins are prescribed.
Professor Paul Riley, one of the University College London researchers, said, "I could envisage a patient known to be at risk of a heart attack — either because of family history or warning signs spotted by their GP — taking an oral tablet, which would prime their heart so that if they had a heart attack the damage could be repaired."
He said this could be available in 10 years.