Scientists have studied in detail the ways the heart repairs after a heart attack (myocardial infarction), hoping to find clues that could lead to better treatments for cardiovascular problems.
New research has revealed that the body’s immune response and the lymphatic system (part of the immune system) are important in how the heart repairs itself after a heart attack that damages the heart muscle.
The key to the study is to explore the role of macrophages, specialized cells that can destroy bacteria or initiate beneficial inflammatory responses. Somewhere after a heart attack, the researchers reported, these macrophages produce a particular type of protein called VEGFC.
We found that macrophages, or immune cells that rush to the heart after a heart attack to ‘eat’ damaged or dead tissue, also stimulate vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGFC), which stimulates angiogenesis, ” he says. pathologist Edward Thorpe of Northwestern University in Illinois. new lymphocytes and promotes healing.
The researchers described this as a scenario by Jekyll and Hyde: the “good” macrophage produces VEGFCs and the “bad” macrophage does not produce VEGFCs but triggers a pro-inflammatory response that can cause further damage to the heart and surrounding tissues. For the heart to fully repair itself, dying cells must be removed, a process known as macrophage proliferation in which macrophages play an important role. What future research could explore is how to increase the number of beneficial macrophages in the heart and reduce the number, or even eliminate, harmful macrophages, improving the chances of a healthy recovery.
“Our challenge now is to find a way to deliver VEGFCs or encourage these macrophages to attract more VEGFCs, to speed up the heart repair process,” Thorpe said.
When people have a heart attack, they are more likely to have heart failure, in which the heart can no longer pump blood throughout the body. This risk can be reduced by the use of modern drugs such as beta-blockers, but it still exists.
The research was published in the journal Clinical Investigation.
Source: Science Alert
Source: Arabic RT
