UK researchers have developed a
revolutionary new gene therapy which may pave way for a single jab to
help reverse the damage caused by a devastating heart failure. The gene
could restore proper pumping function to failing hearts, halving the
risk of death or need for heart transplants, experts behind the
ground-breaking treatment claim. "While drugs can offer some relief,
there is no way of restoring function to the heart," British Heart
Foundation (BHF) medical director Professor Peter Weissberg said. "Gene
therapy is one of the new frontiers in heart science and is a great
example of the cutting-edge technologies that the BHF is using to fight
heart failure," Weissberg said. A trial is to start in the next three
to six weeks with the first of 200 patients from around the world being
treated at hospitals in London and Glasgow, 'Daily Express' reported.
All the patients suffer from severe chronic heart failure, both due to
the after effects of heart attacks and inherited conditions. Doctors at
the Royal Brompton Hospital, London, and the Golden Jubilee National
Hospital, Glasgow, will randomly treat half the patients with a harmless
common cold virus carrying a corrective gene directly inserted into
heart cells via an artery in the groin or wrist. The rest will receive
an inactive placebo. The report said the gene has the potential to
reverse some of the molecular damage brought on by a heart attack,
alcohol, disease or infection. Once damage is caused, heart failure
occurs soon – the organ gets too weak to pump blood efficiently around
the body, leading to breathlessness and exhaustion. The treatment is
believed to cost just a few hundred to a few thousands pounds per
person.
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