Researchers at the University of Virginia have made a significant discovery that could change how doctors treat viral infections of the heart. The study, published in Science Advances , reveals that the heart responds to viral infections in one of three distinct ways, offering new insights that may lead to better treatments for people at risk of heart failure. These findings bring new hope for patients dealing with viral myocarditis, a condition that can silently damage the heart.
Viral myocarditis occurs when a virus infects the heart muscle, leading to inflammation and potentially severe complications. Often undiagnosed until heart function deteriorates, it is a leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young adults and athletes, and a major contributor to dilated cardiomyopathy, a form of heart failure. Despite its prevalence, there are currently no targeted treatments to address viral infections in the heart, making it a pressing issue for researchers and clinicians.
The research team, led by Kevin Janes, John Marshall Money Professor in UVA's Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, analyzed RNA sequencing data from nearly 1,000 human heart samples. They found that about 20% of the hearts showed molecular signs of viral infections, even though the people didn't have any symptoms. The researchers used advanced bioinformatics and computational models to scan the genetic information from each heart and look for specific patterns in how gen.