The jab that could reverse heart failure: Gene treatment that improves beating of the damaged organ could save thousands of lives a year
- Simple injection could reverse heart failure and save thousands of lives
- The gene therapy involves injecting a protein into the damaged heart
- The jab would help to improve the beating of the damaged organ
- Lee Adams, 37, is one of 24 patients taking part in trial at Harefield Hospital
- All the patients currently rely on mechanical hearts to pump blood
- In the trial, 16 will be given the gene therapy and eight will be on a placebo
A simple injection could reverse heart failure by improving the beating of the damaged organ, saving thousands of lives a year.
British scientists have developed a gene therapy which involves injecting a protein into the heart muscle.
This boosts its ability to pump blood without an artificial pump.
Lee Adams, pictured, is one of 24 patients currently relying on a mechanical heart pump to survive. He is taking part in a new trial at Harefield Hospital, London, where a protein is injected into the heart to help it pump blood
Heart failure happens when the organ is unable to pump blood adequately. It affects more than 750,000 people in Britain, most of them elderly, and claims 140,000 lives a year.
In the Imperial College London study, a harmless engineered virus was used to carry the genes into heart muscle cells to increase the level of a protein called SERCA2a.
It is hoped the revolutionary treatment will lead to patients with advanced heart failure being able to ditch the cumbersome pumps currently keeping them alive while they wait for a suitable donor heart.
If the new treatment is successful, it could even mean that heart transplants become unnecessary.
Lee Adams, 37, is one of 24 patients with mechanical pumps taking part in a trial of the treatment at Harefield Hospital. Sixteen have been given the gene treatment and eight a placebo.
He is on the waiting list for a transplant and for more than two years has been living with an LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device).
If successful, the new treatment could even mean that heart transplants become unnecessary
This is an electrically driven pump which moves the blood from the left ventricle into the main artery so it can circulate through to the rest of the body.
The LVAD is always connected to an external power supply through a lead into his abdomen.
Mr Adams, from Hertfordshire, said: ‘The best thing that could happen would be for my heart function to show signs of improvement and for the gene therapy to prove to be a “miracle cure” for myself and other patients.’
Dr Alex Lyon said: ‘The whole procedure takes about ten minutes and is very simple.
‘Heart failure is an ongoing epidemic for an ageing population and we hope this will eventually benefit tens of thousands of people.’
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