Cell reprogramming

New studies in mice have shown that it is possible to 'reprogram' cells to treat heart damage.

It is never easy to treat a broken heart. But now, the damaged rat heart can be healed by turning damaged cells into healthy motor muscle cells. This method also avoids the use of stem cells and opens up the prospect of finding new treatments for heart disease.

After a heart attack, cells called fibroblasts focus on the damaged areas, where they accumulate collagen. Because the fibroblasts are not shrinking like cardiac muscle cells, the overall ability of the heart to pump in this area will weaken, causing the heart to function less efficiently. Expert Victor Dzau of Duke University in North Carolina (USA) has demonstrated that microRNAs, small molecules play the 'main switch' for many genes, can convert fibroblasts into muscle cells. .

New findings open hope for treating heart damage in humans - Photo: Shutterstock

In the cultured fibroblasts of mice, a combination of 4 microRNAs is transported by the virus that converts 4% of this cell to cardiac muscle cells. When a drug called Jak Inhibitor I was added to the mixture, nearly 30% of the cells were converted. The converted cardiac muscle cells show similar characteristics to congenital cells of the same type, including an altered and weak anatomical structure. Dzau detected a similar reaction after injecting the virus into a heart-damaged mouse.'Heart muscle cells are fully compatible in the heart. You cannot distinguish this cell from the other cell, ' New Scientist quoted Dzau as saying.

This direction may be a better alternative to using stem cells that also show the ability to restore heart function. Embryonic stem cells are faced with significant moral challenges while handling adult stem cells is a complex technical process.

Direct reprogramming of myocardial fibroblasts was also recently published by expert Deepak Srivastava of the University of California, San Francisco. Srivastava and colleagues used transcription factors, ie gene-switched proteins, instead of microRNAs to alter the genetic characteristics of this cell.

In the future, these two methods can be used in combination to increase the number of converted cells. Srivastava said: ' I think microRNA works are very attractive and support the theory that a large number of non-muscle cells in the heart can be converted into new heart muscle cells. MicroRNAs may improve conversion efficiency in conjunction with the previously described factors from our team '.

For his part, Dzau affirmed: 'Direct reprogramming is the most interesting thing in cell therapy. Now there are two ways to do that in an animal, and it is paving the way for finding human treatments. '