Gene Procedure Could Make Hearts Younger And Stronger

Researchers have developed a procedure that may help patients recover from heart attacks, and prevent further occurrences.

A team at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot say their experiments on mice are a long way off from being applicable to humans.

But they reshape our understanding of the heart’s regenerative capabilities, and how they may be enhanced through preventative medical intervention. 

The researchers activated a ‘cellular mechanism’ in healthy mouse hearts that make mice resilient to future heart attacks. 

They genetically altered the mice in such a way that the cells that make up their heart muscle tissue were capable of multiplying.

At around the time of birth, these cells normally lose their ability to multiply, in both mice and other mammals, including humans. 

This is one of the reasons heart attacks are so devastating – they kill off these cells that the body cannot regenerate, reducing the patient’s heart performance. 

Mice with the altered genetics were able to recover from a heart injury, while regular mice did not. 

“The data made our jaws drop,” said Professor Eldad Tzahor, who led the study. “We had found a cardiac fountain of youth in those mice, a novel way of making the heart younger and stronger.”

They also found that a mouse whose altered gene was activated at three months old recovered from a major cardiac injury that happened five months later. 

“If we translate this to human years, it’s comparable to an 18-year-old getting treatment that allows that person to survive a heart attack at age 50,” Prof. Tzahor said. 

Their findings were published in Nature Cardiovascular Research.

Subscribe to NoCamels weekly newsletter and get our top stories