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Reversing/Completely Curing Heart Disease May Be Possible With Genetic Treatment
Category: Heart Disease CureIn a new study on the genetic material called microRNA, which seems to have an important role in how heart disease develops, scientists were able to stop the advance of heart disease in mice and even reversed it.
A genetic therapy targeting and blocking microRNA in heart cells successfully and significantly improved cardiac functioning, which surprised and delighted scientists.
The results of the study provide evidence that even bits of the genetic material called microNA are important in the development of heart disease. The therapy developed by scientists and featured in the journal Nature
The study provides hard evidence that tiny pieces of genetic material called microRNA can play a key role in the development of heart disease.
The therapy, featured in the journal Nature, targets and blocks microRNA in heart cells.
A US specialist said that, with trials under way in other animals, human tests may be only a few years away.
The US and German scientists are focusing on one type labelled microRNA-21, and their role in a type of heart cell called the cardiac fibroblast, which helps provide the structure of the organ, and plays a critical role in the progressive scarring which stops it working properly in heart disease.
Until recently, that process was thought to be an irreversible one.
The researchers found that cells in a failing heart had higher levels of this microRNA, and linked it to a chemical signalling pathway which leads to the tissue damage found in the condition.
“This research suggests you can reverse or prevent aspects of heart disease.”