Contact Information: At RegeneRx: At the Financial |
Researchers Report Wound Healing Drug Significantly Reduces Cardiac Damage After Heart Attack Researchers Report Wound Healing Drug Significantly Reduces Cardiac Damage After Heart Attack New Studies with RegeneRx’s Tß4 Detailed in Nature Article November 24, 2004 — Bethesda, Md Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center report in the November 25th issue of Nature that Thymosin beta 4 (Tß4), a naturally occurring peptide being developed by RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, significantly reduced tissue damage, ventricular scarring and dilation, and markedly improved cardiac function when administered to laboratory animals immediately following induced myocardial infarction (heart attack). Heart attacks occur in over one million people annually in the United States with over thirteen million suffering from coronary artery disease, making it the single largest cause of death in the Western world. Dr. Deepak Srivastava, the head of the research team and a professor specializing in pediatric cardiology, stated that, "While we do not know exactly how Tß4 is preventing or reducing damage to the heart, the evidence suggests that it may prevent apoptosis (natural cell death) resulting from a cardiac infarction. Tß4 may also be protecting the cardiac cells from dying by causing them to 'hibernate' and withstand hypoxia (lack of oxygen) caused by a heart attack." "The effects appear similar to those reported in dermal and ocular wound healing studies using Tß4, especially at the cellular level, but it is remarkable that it has such an effect on a whole organ," said Dr. Srivastava. He added that future experiments will be conducted in pigs, whose hearts most resemble humans. According to Dr. Alan Wasserman, a noted cardiologist and Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at The George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., "This paper by Dr. Srivastava and colleagues is one of the most exciting works in the field of acute myocardial infarction I have seen. The ability to repair [cardiac] muscle after an acute infarction makes the use of Tß4, potentially, the most important discovery since the advent of thrombolytic therapy." Dr. Srivastava and his colleagues in the departments of pediatrics, molecular biology and cardiothoracic surgery administered Tß4 two ways: by direct injection into the heart muscle and by systemic injection. The effects from both methods were similar and results from both were significantly better than the control group. The researchers also reported on the results of several in vitro experiments. |
