A Winnipeg scientist has discovered a gene that could help repair the damaged muscles of heart attack victims. The breakthrough could also help cancer patients.
Dr. Lorrie Kirshenbaum has for years studied damaged heart tissue, searching for clues about why these muscles never heal once they've been deprived of oxygen after a heart attack.
Now he's discovered a gene that might help restore the damaged tissue.
Unlike other organs – such as the skin – heart tissue doesn't heal itself when damaged. This is caused by a gene that actually tells the heart cells not to grow.
Dr. Kirshenbaum and his team have been chasing this gene for more than a decade.
"For us, it was initially disbelief that we've found it," Dr. Kirshenbaum told Â鶹´«Ã½.
"We identified a particular gene that gets switched on in heart cells when people are having a heart attack. Why that becomes so significant is because it identifies a potential target, a therapeutic target that we can turn on or turn off ultimately to prevent heart cells from dying."
The breakthrough means scientists can begin work on developing a drug to repair heart muscles by regenerating new heart tissue.Another approach would be to prevent the existing heart cells from further deteriorating.
The gene found in heart cells could also be used to control cancer. Cancer spreads because cells don't stop growing, Certain cancer cells also possess the gene that Dr. Kirshenbaum discovered. The same gene that can cause heart cells to grow can also be used to cause tumours to die, he said.
"By switching this gene on in various tumours, we've been able to block tumour growth as well," Dr. Kirshenbaum said.
Kirshenbaum's research could be ready for human trials in the next three years.
With a report from CTV's Winnipeg Bureau Chief Jill Macyshon
