From cancer and heart attack

Cancer treatment can help heart attack survivors

Anna Stavina, XX2 century

A new antitumor drug – the remedy is still in development – provides restoration of damaged heart muscle. This unexpected discovery in the future may lead to the emergence of a drug to prevent the progression of heart failure due to a heart attack.

Many organs and tissues of our body are constantly updated throughout life. This happens, for example, with blood cells or with the intestinal mucosa. Others – including the heart – are not capable of regeneration. Because of this, myocardial infarctions leave permanent scars on the heart muscle, which lead to its weakening, that is, to the development of heart failure.

For many years, Dr. Lawrence Lum, associate professor of cell biology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center) has been working on the creation of a drug that would target molecules of the Wnt signaling pathway. These molecules are extremely important for tissue regeneration, but sometimes they can contribute to the development of cancer. For the synthesis of proteins of the Wnt signaling pathway, the body needs the Porcn enzyme. This means that a drug that suppresses the synthesis of the latter could be useful in the treatment of certain types of oncological diseases. However, in the process of studying the effects of WNT-974 (that's what the new drug is called so far) on the body, scientists noticed something unexpected.

"We observed predictable side effects concerning the condition of bones and hair. However – and it turned out to be a surprise – against the background of the introduction of WNT-974, there was an increase in the number of dividing cardiomyocytes, heart muscle cells, – says the lead author of the new study, Dr. Lum. – Currently, Porcn enzyme inhibitors are considered primarily as antitumor drugs. However, our work has shown that they could also be useful in regenerative medicine."

Guided by the preliminary results of the study, scientists provoked the development of myocardial infarctions in mice. Then some of the animals began to receive WNT-974, the rest – who did not receive treatment – made up the control group. The ability of the heart to pump blood in mice receiving therapy was almost twice as high as in mice from the control group.

The results of the work were published in the publication Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Moon et al., Blockade to pathological remodeling of infarcted heart tissue using a porcupine antagonist).

In addition to improving the functions of the heart, scientists have noticed a partial disappearance of fibrosis of the heart muscle in animals. That is, the scars left after a heart attack have decreased in size. As a rule, such scars lead to an increase in the size of the heart and provoke the further development of heart failure.

"Although the formation of collagen–containing scars can be useful in the short term – right at the moment of a heart attack - in the future they rather interfere. We believe that we have found a remedy that can reduce the intensity of fibrosis or scar formation and activate the healing process of the heart," says Dr. Lum.

In addition, the author of the study noted that the use of WNT-974 is advisable only in a short period of time immediately after a heart attack. Dr. Lum believes that in this way patients can be protected from the development of side effects characteristic of antitumor drugs.

Clinical trials of WNT-974 as a means of regenerative medicine are planned to begin next year.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  07.02.2017