A scientific invention to treat heart disease

A scientific invention to treat heart disease

In groundbreaking new research, scientists will rewrite DNA with the goal of finding the world's first treatment for genetic heart disease, in what could be described as a "decisive moment" in the field of cardiovascular medicine.

According to what was published by the “Boldsky” website, world-leading scientists from the United Kingdom, the United States and Singapore collaborated on the “Cure Heart” project to design a vaccine for heart patients. According to news reports, the British Heart Foundation has committed €30 million to this life-saving project.

For the first time, researchers will use precise genetic techniques, known as basic modification, in the heart to design and test the first treatment for inherited heart muscle diseases, with the aim of disrupting the faulty genes.

Inherited heart disease

“Inherited heart disease” is a term that includes all heart diseases that are passed from parents to their children, ie when one or both parents have a defective or mutated gene, there is a 50/50 chance of passing it on to the children. Some inherited heart diseases include hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and hypercholesterolemia.

Some people with genetic heart disease may not have many symptoms, and the condition is not diagnosed until after a sudden heart attack, fainting, or sudden death. Statistics indicate that about 0.8 to 1.2% of newborns worldwide are affected by genetic heart disease.

Historic opportunity and 30 years of research

An advisory committee chaired by Professor Sir Patrick Vallance, chief scientific adviser to the British government, chose the team responsible for the critical study, while Professor Hugh Watkins, from the University of Oxford and a principal investigator on the Cure Heart project, said that cardiomyopathy is a serious disease. A truly "common" condition worldwide and is known to affect 250 in XNUMX people.

Professor Watkins added, describing the study as a "one-time-in-a-generation opportunity" aimed at alleviating ongoing anxiety about sudden death, heart failure and the potential need for a heart transplant.

Professor Watkins explained, “After 30 years of research, many specific genes and genetic defects have been discovered that are responsible for various cardiomyopathy and how they function. It is believed that there will be a gene therapy available to start clinical trials and trials within the next five years.”

Correction of defective genes

It is hoped that the new research program will permanently correct the genetic mutations responsible for causing heart problems.

In this context, Christine Seidman, a professor at Harvard Medical School and the lead researcher involved in the project, explained that the goal was to “repair hearts” and restore their normal functioning, explaining that “most of the mutations that appeared among patients lead to changing one letter repeatedly. From the DNA code, which means that there is a cure by changing the monogram and restoring the code.”

According to the researchers, pioneers from three continents and distinguished in the field of new and highly accurate gene editing involved in the study, human trials have not yet been conducted, but animal trials have been successful and promising.

The researchers added that it is hoped that people who are at risk of developing genetic heart disease due to the presence of faulty genes in their families will be able to obtain treatment before their disease develops.