CHF X=Ray - source: CDC

(Best Syndication News) Scientists say they have shown that a protein can help regenerate heart tissue damaged by a heart attack. The neuregulin1 (NRG1) growth factor may be used to treat heart failure (congestive heart failure or CHF), a disease that kills one in five men and one in seven women.

Unlike other cells in the body, the heart cells (cardiomyocytes) are incapable of healing themselves. After birth the cells become binucleated (they have two nuclei, and withdraw from the cell cycle). For this reason it was believed that the cells are “terminally differentiated” and incapable of further proliferation.

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New research suggests that the heart muscle cells can replace themselves. Perhaps half of the cells in the heart may turn-over during the course of a lifetime. Harvard researchers investigated various molecules to determine their efficacy.

After comparing several factors that drove heart cell division during prenatal development, they found that NRG1 had the most significant effect. They are uncertain whether NRG1 is responsible for the natural repair process, but their findings showed that it “clearly” enhanced it.

Although both the NRG1 receptor and NRG1 are present in the adult heart, it is not clear if they are in the right place or in sufficient quantities.

So far the tests have been conducted on rodents. Human tests will begin after more experiments are done on pigs.

This new research could lead to a treatment that repairs the damaged heart muscle. According to Bernhard Kuhn of the Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School; a patient may someday go to a clinic for daily infusions of NRGA over a period of weeks.

Previous research has suggested that NRG1 1-ErbB4 interactions may play a role in the pathological mechanism of schizophrenia. It is also believed that the protein has the putative ability to protect the brain from damage induced by stroke.

The new research appears in the July 24th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication.

By Marsha Quinn