US/HUNGARY: The writers of soppy love songs got it wrong, you can mend a broken heart. Scientists in Hungary and the US have discovered a substance that helps reduce cell death after a heart attack, reports Dick Ahlstrom, Science Editor
The heart is usually unable to repair itself after injury, with cell death leaving the heart struggling to cope with its essential role as a pump. The researchers report in the journal Nature this morning that the substance, normally found in an embryo's developing heart, blocks some heart cell death both in cultured human cells and in test animals.
The discovery has huge implications given the threat posed by heart disease. It is one of the top causes of death in the Western world and, surprisingly, the leading non-infectious cause of death during the first year of an infant's life, the authors note.
The research also has important ethical issues. At present most promising treatment after a heart attack involves injecting stem cells recovered by destroying a developing embryo.
The authors suggest that the substance - known as thymosin beta-4 - could be copied or something with similar effect found and then given as an injection. No embryonic stem cells would be needed for the treatment.
The researchers found thymosin beta-4 when studying genes switched on in the embryo during heart development. It is a small protein 43 amino acids long, but it was able to reduce cell death in adult heart cells.
They decided to test the protein in mice after heart damage and found similar results. Giving thymosin beta-4 after injury caused a 60 to 100 per cent improvement in cell survival and heart function afterwards.