Will heart failure be cured by gene therapy?
Gene therapy "triggers" the heart
Elena Novoselova, STRF.ruAmerican biotechnologists have demonstrated that the use of gene therapy in the treatment of heart disorders will allow replacing a complex treatment regimen using a "cocktail" of drugs.
Experts hope that by transferring the genes responsible for the synthesis of myosin, they will be able to improve cardiac function and cure heart failure.
In a series of experiments, scientists used rabbit heart muscle cells in which a gene encoding protein synthesis from a family of molecular motors was introduced using a carrier (in this case, a modified adenovirus). These are protein complexes, parts of which are able to move relative to each other.
The work of molecular motors underlies any active movements performed by living organisms (from the movement of chromosomes during cell division to muscle contractions, including cardiac). In higher organisms, the most important of the molecular motors is myosin, whose molecules move along the actin fibers.
After successful experiments on cell culture from rabbit heart muscle samples, a similar series of experiments was conducted with human heart cells. The gene carrier effectively penetrated into the cells of the heart muscle and after some time the process of synthesis and assembly of myosin filaments began, which allowed the heart muscle to gradually restore its ability to contract. Currently, scientists are preparing to transfer the results of experiments from tissue culture to model animals.
Thus, instead of prescribing another drug for the treatment of heart failure, it is much safer and more promising to help the heart restore itself.
Heart failure is the inability of the heart to fully perform its pumping (contractile) function, as well as to provide the body with the necessary amount of oxygen contained in the blood. Heart failure is not an independent disease. As a rule, it is a complication or the result of various diseases and conditions.
In the vast majority of cases, heart failure is a natural outcome of many diseases of the heart and blood vessels (valvular heart defects, coronary heart disease (CHD), cardiomyopathy, hypertension, etc.). With hypertension, it can take many years from the onset of the disease to the appearance of the first symptoms of heart failure.
The results of the experiments are presented in the FASEB Journal (published by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology).
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