Genetic Therapy Reverses Heart Disease in Mice

Damage to heart muscle can be stopped and maybe even reversed, but for now only in mice, the BBC reports. Blocking the activity of a specific type of genetic material that regulates gene expression, scientists found, avoided a type of cardiac scarring that leads to heart disease. "Heart function and tissue damage improved," a lead researcher told Reuters.

Researchers isolated a material known as microRNA-21, which was more common in failing hearts than in healthy ones. The results raised hopes that a possible treatment for humans may not be far off. The next step is testing in other animals, a process that has already begun. "This is one of the hottest topics in biology at the moment," said a researcher who called the study's results "exciting."
(More heart disease stories.)