Science
'Transformational' new gene therapy research centre launched
A new gene therapy research centre jointly funded by us and the Medical Research Council (MRC) has been launched.
The MRC/BHF Centre of Research Excellence in Advanced Cardiac Therapies aims to develop the first therapies to stimulate heart repair and regeneration in patients following a heart attack and in those with established heart failure, for which there are currently no effective treatments.
It’s estimated that over one million people in the UK have heart failure, as well as at least 64 million people around the world. Heart attacks are the main cause of heart failure. They cause a sudden loss of blood flow to part of the heart muscle, starving it of blood and oxygen and damaging the heart muscle.
The adult heart can’t repair itself, so any damage is permanent. To treat heart failure, we need to develop innovative therapies that stimulate formation of new heart tissue, to compensate for what has been lost.
Reawaken regeneration
The centre will be led by three pioneering researchers at universities across the UK – Professor Mauro Giacca at King’s College London, BHF Professor Andrew Baker at the University of Edinburgh, and BHF Professor Paul Riley at the University of Oxford.
The researchers aim to discover and target key processes within the heart tissue, which can stimulate the growth of heart muscle cells, encourage the growth of new blood vessels, and counteract the formation of scar tissue.
Research has found that many of these regenerative processes occur naturally in the hearts of other animals, including salamanders and fish, and even in human infants.
The Centre aims to develop the first therapies which can reawaken these regenerative processes within the cells of damaged human hearts.
Closer to a cure
Commenting on the launch Professor Mauro Giacca, Director of the MRC/BHF Centre of Research Excellence in Advanced Cardiac Therapies, said: “There is a tremendous need for new therapies for heart failure and we’re now at an exciting moment when the technologies have really progressed to an extent where we can realistically start to develop gene therapies. This could be transformational for heart disease treatment.”
Our director of research Professor James Leiper said of the launch: “We are delighted to be funding this centre, which will undertake cutting edge research into gene therapies for heart disease. There is currently no cure for heart failure, and this centre’s vital work focusing on heart repair and regeneration promises to bring us closer to a cure for this debilitating disease.”