Researchers in Germany have found a way to improve the treatment of heart failure, using a combination of animal studies and new approach methods.
The team, from EARA member the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin, together with colleagues from Heidelberg University, and the California-based company Ionis Pharmaceuticals, USA, have developed a new therapeutic approach to regulate the heart muscle.
Using mice, computer modelling, and artificial heart tissue, the team identified a key molecule that helps regulate the elasticity of the heart muscle through the protein titin.
“These tests on artificial heart tissue were an important step, because the primary sequences for titin are not identical in mice and humans,” said Michael Radke, a lead author of the study.
The findings have been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.