/news/potential-new-strategy-cardiac-regeneration-through-inhibition-arid1a
Damage to the human heart, for example due to a heart attack, is not repaired and is therefore permanent. The regenerative capacity of heart muscle cells is lost soon after birth, when these cells transition to their adult form. Researchers from the Van Rooij group have identified ARID1A as an important protein in regulating this transition. In addition, they were able to stimulate cardiac regeneration by suppressing ARID1A in a model of heart damage. The results of the study were published in Nature Communications on 5 August 2023 and may contribute to the development of treatments to repair heart damage in the future.
During a heart attack, part of the heart muscle does not receive enough oxygen due to a blocked blood supply. The heart muscle cells cannot cope well with this oxygen deficiency and start to suffer damage or even die. Cardiac cells that have died cannot be regenerated in the adult heart, which means that the heart cannot recover sufficiently after a heart attack or other injury. Newborn babies’ hearts, on the other hand, are better able to repair themselves by forming new heart muscle cells. Researchers from the Van Rooij group wondered how cells lose their regenerative capacity over time, and whether it would be possible to reactivate this capacity in an adult heart to repair damage.