Scientists at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have developed a first-of-its-kind experimental therapy that has the potential to enhance heart repair following a heart attack, preventing the onset of heart failure. Cardiovascular disease continues to be the world's leading cause of death, contributing to one-third of deaths annually. After a heart attack, the heart's innate ability to regenerate is limited, causing the muscle to develop scars to maintain its structural integrity.
This inflexible scar tissue, however, interferes with the heart's ability to pump blood, leading to heart failure in many patients -; 50% of whom do not survive beyond five years. The need for innovative therapies is urgent. The new therapeutic approach aims to improve heart function after a heart attack by blocking a protein called ENPP1, which is responsible for increasing the inflammation and scar tissue formation that exacerbate heart damage.
The findings, published in Cell Reports Medicine, could represent a major advance in post-heart attack treatment. The research was led by senior author Dr. Arjun Deb, a professor of medicine and molecular, cell and developmental biology at UCLA.
"Despite the prevalence of heart attacks, therapeutic options have stagnated over the last few decades," said Deb, who is also a member of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center. "There are currently no medications specifically designed to make the heart heal o.
