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UofL researchers find a way to regenerate heart cells

They have finished preclinical testing, and can now test people experiencing certain types of heart failure.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — University of Louisville researchers have developed a gene therapy designed to regenerate heart cells. The goal is to restore heart function after a heart attack.

Assistant professor of Cardiology Tamer M.A. Mohamed and other colleagues at the UofL Institute of Molecular Cardiology have finished the preclinical testing. This means the process can now be tested on humans who may be experiencing certain types of heart failure, according to a news release. 

“By inducing proliferation in cardiac heart muscle cells, we hope to be able to treat this deadly disease.” Mohamed said. “In this study, we have demonstrated preliminary efficacy of the transient gene therapy we call 4F in the treatment of ischemic heart failure.”

The release also explains ischemic heart disease, or coronary heart disease, affects about 18.2 million adults in the United States. This happens when blood and oxygen flow is reduced due to narrowed arteries. When patients experience heart attacks, millions of heart cells die.

Mohamed and his team found a combination of "four cell-cycle regulator genes, cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (CDK1), CDK4, cyclin B1, and cyclin D1, known collectively as 4F, or four factors" helped create heart cells in a lab that improved the heart function in animals for four months.

They found this combination in 2018. They have published an article titled “Transient Cell Cycle Induction in Cardiomyocytes to Treat Subacute Ischemic Heart Failure” in the journal Circulation.

RELATED: 'It gave us one more day with her' | Woman leaves Louisville hospital after successful artificial heart implant

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