A novel study has shown that the drug thymosin beta 4, if used in advance of heart attack, was capable to prime the heart for repair. As a result of advancement in health care the number of people dying from coronary heart disease is declining considerably.
In previous studies, the damage occurred due to heart attack had been considered lasting. The research team from University College London examined a group of cells that are capable to transform into diverse type of heart tissue in an embryo. In middle-aged epicardium-derived progenitor cells which line the heart, but have become inactive.
By using a chemical, thymosin beta 4, researchers wake up progenitor cells. According to Prof Paul Riley from University College London, the mature epicaridal cells that line the muscle of the heart can be activated, move inward and give rise to new heart muscle. They observe an improvement in the ejection fraction.
It is the ability of the heart to pump out the blood, when pumping more blood, the scar tissue was diminished and the walls of the heart become thicker. The drug that makes hearts repair themselves has been trialed in lab mice. The mice required to take the drug in advance of a heart attack in order for it to be effective.
The medical director Peter Weissberg from the British Heart Foundation stated that the degree of improvement seen in animals was rarely seen in human beings. He squabbled that even a small improvement would have a dramatic impact on people’s quality of life. In patients with heart failure it is working flat out just to sit down.
If an analogous drug could be found to be effective in humans, then the researchers believe it would need to be approved in an analogous way to statins. To repair a damaged heart was the holy grail of heart research, explained the British Heart Foundation, which funded the study. The results fortified the evidence that drugs could be used to prevent the onset of heart failure.