Heart Failure

Researchers have discovered a previously unknown pathological cellular mechanism underpinning heart failure, which currently has no cure, and identified a drug that can reverse the damaging malfunction, opening the door to a novel treatment.

Right now, drug developers have high hopes on Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) inhibitors for treating advanced cancers. But a team of scientists has found it also shows huge promise in calming inflammation, and could be used to treat gout and heart failure.

Heart tissue normally can't regenerate after an injury. But now, scientists at Max Planck have shown in mice that reprogramming the energy metabolism of the heart allows it to regenerate after a heart attack, which could open new therapies.

In a major step towards creating new organs on demand to alleviate donor waitlists, Stanford scientists have now received a contract and funding for experiments to 3D print human hearts and implant them into live pigs.

A new study has found that during exercise, the vagus nerve, essential to the body’s ‘rest and digest’ response, has a more important role in heart function than we thought. The findings could help treat diseases like heart failure.

A high resting heart rate, considered anything above 100 beats per minute, has been linked to an elevated risk of serious cardiovascular conditions such as coronary artery disease and stroke. Knowing how genes impact this is vital for preventative care.

For the first time, scientists have discovered how a change in the ACTA2 gene can cause heart disease in otherwise adults who have normal cholesterol levels and no other risk factors. This could lead to early detection of an often silent killer.

Researchers have transplanted precursor stem cells into the damaged heart muscle of pigs, repairing injured cells and improving heart function. The study may lead to a treatment that can regenerate heart muscle damaged by a lack of oxygen.

Looking at more than 30,000 people who'd suffered a heart attack, it was found they also had a steady, quicker decline in cognition, memory and executive function in the years that followed. And the medical world doesn't yet know why.

Heart failure can be caused by multiple factors, requiring different treatments. Researchers have trained machine learning models using a large dataset to identify five subtypes of heart failure, which may improve risk prediction and treatment.

Surgeons have successfully performed a first-of-its-kind procedure in utero to treat a potentially fatal genetic defect in the brain. Usually treated after birth, the new procedure could give newborns a better chance of a normal life.

Beta-blockers are prescribed as a matter of course to people following a heart attack, but a study found that people who have not experienced cardiac complications after a heart attack gain no improvement in outcomes by taking beta-blockers long-term.