The far right image shows how a cardiotrophin treatment repaired heart muscle after a heart attack in a rat model. The blue areas are scar tissue and the red sections are healthy heart muscle (Cell Research/Megeney et al., 2017)
Scientists have discovered a protein that promotes healthy heart growth by helping this key muscle pump blood efficiently throughout the body. The protein, cardiotrophin 1 (CT-1), stimulates both the growth of heart muscles and the growth of blood vessels in the heart. The effect of CT-1 is similar to what is naturally achieved through exercise or occurs during pregnancy. CT-1 from human donors has shown to stimulate heart growth in lab-grown heart cells, as well as in mouse and rat hearts. According to study authors, this discovery is particularly promising to heart failure patients, who cannot reap the same benefits from exercise as their ability to have strenuous physical activity is limited. CT-1 treatments would also provide a less invasive treatment alternative to right heart failure, which is currently only treated by a transplant.
Authors:
Mohammad Abdul-Ghani, Colin Suen, Baohua Jiang, Yupu Deng, Jonathan J Weldrick, Charis Putinski, Steve Brunette, Pasan Fernando, Tom T Lee, Peter Flynn, Frans H H Leenen, Patrick G Burgon, Duncan J Stewart and Lynn A Megeney
Lead author:
Lynn Megeney, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa; Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, ON, Email: lmegeney@ohri.ca
Original paper published in Cell Research on August 8, 2017.
