Researchers have just identified the MANF protein capable, after a myocardial infarction, of helping the heart to regulate oxygen and blood flow.
- Called MANF, this protein keeps other proteins functional during oxidative stress following a heart attack.
Affecting nearly 100,000 people each year in France, myocardial infarction or heart attack is due to fatty deposits on the arterial walls which block the flow of blood to the heart, thus depriving it of oxygen and damaging the muscle. heart, the myocardium.
Deprived of oxygen, myocardial cells necrotize and die, which can lead to death: this is the case in 10% of heart attacks. However, even if the patient survives, the patient’s heart is badly damaged. Tissues must be rebuilt, muscle damage repaired to restore circulation of blood and oxygen.
A discovery made by researchers at the Heart Institute of San Diego State University (USA) could help repair the damaged heart more quickly after a heart attack. In a study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, they explain that they have identified a key protein in the heart capable of reducing the damage caused by heart attack. Its use could improve the survival rate and heart function of people who have had a myocardial infarction.
A reduction in oxidative stress
After a heart attack, many patients have stents inserted to open blocked arteries and thus oxygenate the heart. But the use of stents has drawbacks: the surge of oxygen that occurs as soon as the stent is implanted “stuns” heart cells and some of them die, increasing irreparable damage to the heart. “We have found a protein that can minimize this dizziness”says Chris Glembotski, a molecular cardiologist and director of the San Diego State University Heart Institute.
Called MANF (for mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor), this protein corrects the action of other poorly functioning proteins after a heart attack. Successfully tested on genetically modified mice, the MAN protein reduces the damage caused by oxidative stress, ie the overabundance of oxygen that occurs after a heart attack.
The researchers now hope that this discovery could lead to the intravenous administration of the protein in the first moments after a heart attack. “One of our most interesting findings is that MANF is a chaperone protein that keeps other proteins functional during oxidative stress. If we could give heart attack victims more MANF, they would have less damage after a heart attack, and they would recover faster”explains researcher Adrian Arrieta, who participated in the study.
The next work of the scientific team will consist in studying the action of the protein on the hearts of pigs, which react like those of humans after a heart attack. They will also look for optimal ways to deliver MANFs to the heart, again in laboratory animals, as this is a crucial step in the development of MANFs as a medicine for humans.
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