Research informs future treatments for heart failure

Embargoed until: Publicly released:
Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Experimental study: At least one thing in the experiment was changed to see if it had an impact on the subjects (often people or animals) – eg: changing the amount of time mice spend on an exercise wheel to find out what impact it has on weight loss.

Cells: This is a study based on research in micro-organisms, cells, tissue, organs or non-human embryos.

QIMR Berghofer researchers have contributed to a new discovery, unlocking how heart muscle cells can be restored, informing the development of therapies for heart failure. Given human heart muscle cells lose their ability to regenerate shortly after birth, cardiac tissue isn’t able to regain its function after damage.

Journal/conference: NPJ Regenerative Medicine

Research: Paper

Organisation/s: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), The University of Queensland

Funder: This research was funded by NIH grants F32HL149140 (R.R.E.A.), R01HL147921, P30GM127607, R15HL168688, R01HL166280 (T.M.A.M.), and American Heart Association grant 16SDG29950012 (T.M.A.M). J.E.H. is supported by a Snow Medical Fellowship. Ultrasound experiments were supported by the Baylor College of Medicine Mouse Metabolism and Phenotyping Core which is supported by NIH (S10OD032380, UM1HG006348, R01DK114356, R01HL130249). We would like to acknowledge Beverly Dixon for her technical support in animal care and surgeries.

Media release

From: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute

QIMR Berghofer researchers have contributed to a new discovery, unlocking how heart muscle cells can be restored, informing the development of therapies for heart failure. Given human heart muscle cells lose their ability to regenerate shortly after birth, cardiac tissue isn’t able to regain its function after damage.

Research Officer at QIMR Berghofer’s Cardiac Drug Discovery Lab, Lynn Devilée and a team of international collaborators led by Baylor College of Medicine Assistant Professor Riham Abouleisa, identified that cardiac cell restoration can be reactivated by manipulating calcium influx. However, there is a fine balance between lowering calcium influx to enable cardiac cell renewal and too little calcium influx, causing the heart to stop.

" The findings pave the way for treatments that target calcium influx to repair damaged tissue and restore healthy heart function. The challenge remains how to manipulate this process without interfering with normal heart function," said Research Officer Lynn Devilee

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