Genetic Trickery Coaxes Heart to Heal Itself

Two new studies suggest that heart muscle cells can make copies of themselves at a very low rate, but researchers have developed a genetic trick that prompts them to improve their efficiency.

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Genetically Modified Tomatoes Counteract Heart Disease

Researchers have developed a genetically modified tomato that produces a certain peptide which will lower the plaque buildup in the arteries of mice. This could also work in humans.

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Inhibition of MicroRNAs in Mice Can Attenuate Cardiovascular Stress

Normal mouse heart pictured on the left compared to the one of the right, which has cardiac hypertrophy

Cardiac stress that’s caused by a heart attack or high blood pressure will frequently lead to pathological heart growth and eventually lead to heart failure. Researchers have discovered that two micro-scale RNA molecules, microRNA miR-212 and miR-132 play a role in this detrimental development in mice. When these molecules were inhibited, the mice were protected against pathological heart growth and failure. Researchers hope to adapt these findings and develop therapeutic approaches that would work in humans.

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Human Cardiac Cells Derived from Stem Cells Could Repair Damaged Hearts

Contrary to the skin and liver, damaged hearts rarely heal themselves but there is new research that might raise hope for cell therapies. It’s been recently shown that heart muscle cells differentiated from human embryonic stem cell could be reintegrated into an existing heart muscle.

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Stem Cells Help Re-grow Healthy Heart Muscle After Heart Attack

A new study published in the journal The Lancet shares the results from a Cedars-Sinai Heart institute clinical trial, which demonstrated that heart attack patients could be treated with an infusion of their own heart-derived cells that helped re-grow healthy heart muscles.

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