Investigating the potential of injectable gene therapies to improve heart muscle function following a heart attack

Functional selection of novel biotherapeutics for myocardial infarction and heart failure using arrayed AAV libraries coding for the secretome

A heart attack happens when a blockage in the coronary arteries restricts the blood supply to heart muscle, starving the muscle of oxygen and nutrients, which can leave the heart with irreversible damage. Over time this can lead to heart failure, a devastating condition with no cure. Professor Mauro Giacca and team at King’s College London are exploring whether injectable gene therapies could increase the heart’s production of its own proteins, to improve repair and function of the heart muscle following a heart attack. Previously, the team assessed a large set of biological data and identified seven proteins that may promote heart muscle repair. Now, Professor Giacca and colleagues are using gene therapy to increase the amount of the seven proteins produced in the damaged heart, and test how they affect heart function after a heart attack in mice. If studies in mice are successful, the team will conduct further studies of the most promising proteins in pigs. This research could pave the way for injectable gene therapies that could promote repair in the heart after a heart attack and prevent the subsequent development of heart failure.