Targeting the microenvironment rather than a specific cell type could be the key to healing injured hearts

Novel discovery and milestone in cardiac research revealed in nature cardiovascular research

2024-02-15

(Press-News.org) A groundbreaking scientific study published in Nature Cardiovascular Research has unveiled a remarkable discovery that may have far-reaching implications for the treatment of heart disease.

The intensive investigations utilizing single-cell genomics and genetic experiments were conducted by a team of renowned scientists in the Cardiomyocyte Renewal Laboratory and McGill Gene Editing Laboratory at The Texas Heart Institute, including James F. Martin Vivian L. Smith Chair in Regenerative Medicine and Vice Chairman and Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Baylor College of Medicine, and co-first authors Xiao Li, PhD, and Rich Gang Li, PhD. Titled "YAP Induces a Neonatal Like Pro-Renewal Niche in the Adult Heart," this research sheds light on the potential of the human heart to achieve self-repair and regeneration.

Heart disease remains a leading cause of death worldwide, with myocardial infarction, also known as a heart attack, causing irreparable damage to cardiac muscle cells. While current treatments focus on alleviating symptoms and improving blood flow, they fall short in addressing the crucial issue of lost cardiomyocytes (CMs), leading to further complications such as heart failure. However, this groundbreaking study offers hope for a paradigm shift in regenerative medicine.

Heart disease remains a leading cause of death worldwide, with myocardial infarction, also known as a heart attack, causing irreparable damage to cardiac muscle cells. While current treatments focus on alleviating symptoms and improving blood flow, they fall short of addressing the crucial issue of lost cardiomyocytes (CMs), leading to further complications such as heart failure. However, this groundbreaking study offers hope for a paradigm shift in regenerative medicine.

Contrary to longstanding beliefs, the study reveals that regeneration of CMs requires a complex microenvironment, where a dynamic synergy between CMs, resident immune cells, and cardiac fibroblasts is the driving force behind cardiac renewal. Through intricate signaling mechanisms, these cell types coordinately instruct and support each other, facilitating CM proliferation and effectively repairing damaged heart tissue.

"Understanding heart regeneration on a molecular level is an important step towards developing innovative therapeutics that can facilitate CM regeneration," said the team in their lay summary. "Our study challenges the existing paradigm, suggesting that targeting the microenvironment rather than a specific cell type is instrumental in healing the injured heart."

The implications of this groundbreaking discovery are immense, offering glimpses of a future where heart disease may no longer be an irreversible condition but a challenge that can be overcome through medical intervention. The potential for developing novel therapies that leverage the body's innate regenerative capacity holds great promise for millions of individuals affected by heart disease worldwide.

"YAP Induces a Neonatal Like Pro-Renewal Niche in the Adult Heart" is a milestone in cardiac research. It unlocks a new avenue for scientific exploration and fosters hope for a future where damaged hearts can mend themselves. This remarkable study, published in a prestigious journal like Nature Cardiovascular Research, confirms the significance and impact of these findings.

The work is supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL127717, HL130804, and HL118761 to JFM), the American Heart Association (AHA) (849706 to SL, 903651 to RGL, and 903411 to FM), the Don McGill Gene Editing Laboratory of The Texas Heart Institute (XL), and the Vivian L. Smith Foundation (JFM)

The content of this research is solely the authors' responsibility and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or AHA.

Connect with the team on social media: James F. Martin @jmartinlab, Xiao Li @SirScienceAlot, and Rich Li @RichGangLi

"YAP Induces a Neonatal Like Pro-Renewal Niche in the Adult Heart" Nature Cardiovascular Research DOI 10.1038/s44161-024-00428-w

ABOUT THE TEXAS HEART INSTITUTE

The Texas Heart Institute (THI) is an independent, nonprofit organization with the mission of improving cardiovascular health today through trailblazing research, thought leadership, education, and patient care. Located within the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1962 by renowned cardiac surgeon Dr. Denton Cooley, THI performed the first successful heart transplant and total artificial heart implant in the United States. Since then, its physicians and surgeons have remained recognized as worldwide leaders in diagnosing and treating even the most complex cardiovascular conditions. Research programs at THI continue pushing cardiovascular science’s boundaries by translating laboratory discovery into patient care. THI has been ranked among the top cardiovascular centers in the United States by US News & World Report for over 30 years. www.texasheart.org
@texasheartinstitute

ABOUT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) in Houston is recognized as a health sciences university and is known for excellence in education, research and patient care. It is ranked 22nd among medical schools for research and 17th for primary care by U.S. News & World Report. Baylor is listed 20th among all U.S. medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding and No. 1 in Texas. The Baylor pediatrics program ranked 7th among all pediatric programs, reflecting the strong affiliation with Texas Children’s Hospital where our faculty care for pediatric patients and our students and residents train. Nationally our physician assistant program was ranked 3rd in the health disciplines category and our nurse anesthesia program ranked 2nd. Located in the Texas Medical Center, Baylor has affiliations with seven teaching hospitals and jointly owns and operates Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center, part of St. Luke’s Health. Currently, Baylor has more than 3,000 trainees in medical, graduate, nurse anesthesia, physician assistant, orthotics and genetic counseling as well as residents and postdoctoral fellows. Follow Baylor College of Medicine on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/BaylorCollegeOfMedicine) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/BCMHouston).

Media Contacts

Keri Sprung
ksprung@texasheart.org
832-355-3792

Graciela Gutierrez
graciela.gutierrez@bcm.edu
713-798-4710

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:

Targeting the microenvironment rather than a specific cell type could be the key to healing injured hearts 2

Targeting the microenvironment rather than a specific cell type could be the key to healing injured hearts 3

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Live from the brain: Visual cues inform decision to cooperate

2024-02-14

HOUSTON – (Feb. 14, 2024) – Eye contact and body language are critical in social interaction, but exactly how the brain uses this information in order to inform behavior in real time is not well understood. By combining behavioral and wireless eye tracking and neural monitoring, a team of Rice University scientists and collaborators studied how pairs of freely moving macaques interacting in a naturalistic setting use visual cues to guide complex, goal-oriented cooperative behavior. The study published in Nature offers first evidence that the part of the brain that processes visual information ⎯ the visual cortex ⎯ plays an active role in social behavior by providing ...

Super-resolution microscopy harnesses digital display technology

2024-02-14

In the ever-evolving realm of microscopy, recent years have witnessed remarkable strides in both hardware and algorithms, propelling our ability to explore the infinitesimal wonders of life. However, the journey towards three-dimensional structured illumination microscopy (3DSIM) has been hampered by challenges arising from the speed and intricacy of polarization modulation. Introducing the DMD-3DSIM System Enter the high-speed modulation 3DSIM system “DMD-3DSIM,” combining digital display with super-resolution imaging, allowing scientists to see cellular structures in unprecedented detail. As ...

UW anthropologists’ research unveils early stone plaza in the Andes

2024-02-14

Two University of Wyoming anthropology professors have discovered one of the earliest circular plazas in Andean South America, showcasing monumental megalithic architecture, which refers to construction that uses large stones placed upright with no mortar. Located at the Callacpuma archaeological site in the Cajamarca Basin of northern Peru, the plaza is built with large, vertically placed megalithic stones -- a construction method previously unseen in the Andes. Associate Professor Jason Toohey, project lead, and Professor Melissa Murphy have been researching ...

New epigenetic clocks reinvent how we measure age

2024-02-14

BOSTON – What causes us to age? New “clocks” developed by researchers may help point to the answers. Investigators from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, unveil a new form of epigenetic clock – a machine learning model designed to predict biological age from DNA structure. The novel model distinguishes between genetic differences that slow and accelerate aging, predicts biological age and evaluates anti-aging ...

The roles of USP1 in Ewing sarcoma

2024-02-14

“This study uncovered important roles for USP1 in Ewing sarcoma.” BUFFALO, NY- February 14, 2024 – A new research paper was published in Genes & Cancer on February 5, 2024, entitled, “Roles of USP1 in Ewing sarcoma.” Ewing sarcoma is a cancer of bone and soft tissue in children and young adults that is driven by the EWS-ETS fusion transcription factor, most commonly EWS-FLI1. Researchers Panneerselvam Jayabal, Xiuye Ma and Yuzuru Shiio from The University of Texas Health Science Center previously reported that Ewing sarcoma harbors two populations of cells, ...

New algorithm disentangles intrinsic brain patterns from sensory inputs

2024-02-14

Maryam Shanechi, Dean’s Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and founding director of the USC Center for Neurotechnology, and her team have developed a new machine learning method that reveals surprisingly consistent intrinsic brain patterns across different subjects by disentangling these patterns from the effect of visual inputs.The work has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). When performing various everyday movement behaviors, such as reaching for a book, our brain has to take in information, often in the form of visual input — for example, seeing where the book is. Our brain then has to process ...

A new test could predict how heart attack patients will respond to mechanical pumps

2024-02-14

Every year, around 50,000 people in the United States experience cardiogenic shock — a life-threatening condition, usually caused by a severe heart attack, in which the heart can’t pump enough blood for the body’s needs. Many of these patients end up receiving help from a mechanical pump that can temporarily help the heart pump blood until it recovers enough to function on its own. However, in nearly half of these patients, the extra help leads to an imbalance between the left and right ventricles, which can pose danger to the patient. In a ...

Turning back the clock on photoaging skin

2024-02-14

Chronic exposure of human skin to ultraviolet light causes premature aging, or photoaging. As the skin undergoes photoaging, type I collagen bundles, which are found in the dermis beneath the top layer of the skin and provide strength and support to skin, become fragmented. This leads to wrinkles, fragility and loss of support and elasticity. “The best way to prevent damage to type I collagen by sunlight is to wear sunscreen consistently, daily if possible and particularly when spending time outdoors,” said Frank Wang, MD, the William B. Taylor Endowed Professor of Clinical Dermatology at U-M Medical School. Experts ...

City of Hope research featuring the successful treatment of the oldest patient to achieve remission for leukemia and HIV published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)

2024-02-14

LOS ANGELES — City of Hope®, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, treated the oldest person to be cured of a blood cancer and then achieve remission for HIV after receiving a blood stem cell transplant from a donor with a rare genetic mutation. Research published in NEJM today demonstrates that older adults with blood cancers who receive reduced intensity chemotherapy before a stem cell transplant with donor cells that are resistant to HIV may be cured of HIV infection. Paul Edmonds, 68, of Desert Springs, California, is the fifth person in the world to achieve remission for acute myelogenous leukemia ...

A lighthouse in the Gobi desert

2024-02-14

Los Angeles, CA (February 14, 2024) — A new study published in the journal PLOS ONE explores the weight great fossil sites have on our understanding of evolutionary relationships between fossil groups—the lagerstätten effect—and for the first time, quantified the power these sites have on our understanding of evolutionary history. Surprisingly, the authors discovered that the wind-swept sand deposits of the Late Cretaceous Gobi Desert’s extraordinarily diverse and well-preserved ...

Targeting the microenvironment rather than a specific cell type could be the key to healing injured hearts

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: