Novel Microparticle-Based Therapeutic Approach Could Limit Tissue Damage Following Heart Attack

An innovative therapeutic approach could limit damage caused by heart attacks if provided within 24 hours, according to research published in Science Translational Medicine this month. The therapy involves administering biodegradable microparticles following heart attack, with the aim of improving heart function.  This development could lead to significant clinical breakthroughs; indeed, lead author Daniel Getts argues that the study could “transform the way heart attacks…are treated.”

Much of the damage arising following heart attack occurs due to inflammation; inflammatory cells travel in the blood to oxygen-depleted cardiac tissue and initiate damage and scarring. In fact, these cells cause pathologies associated with numerous inflammatory diseases. As a result, inflammatory cells are an attractive clinical target; however, there are currently no clinically appropriate targeted therapies.

The scientists, based at Northwestern Medicine and the University of Sydney, reasoned that microparticle-based therapy could be effective as inflammatory cells naturally ‘scavenge’ and engulf particles travelling in the bloodstream. Taking advantage of this, they designed the microparticles to be engulfed by inflammatory cells.  This process causes inflammatory cells to be redirected and die; microparticles literally lure inflammatory cells to their death. Importantly, in mouse heart attack models, treatment improved heart function and reduced symptoms. Furthermore, the clinical implications are not limited to heart attack; the therapy was found to be relevant to a variety of inflammatory diseases including multiple sclerosis.

Questions remain to be answered, not least clinical issues such as possible long-term side effects. Nonetheless, it is hoped that the technology can be rapidly applied in the clinic. With this in mind, the scientists are already collaborating with a biotechnology company, with clinical trials planned for later this year. It is clear that this novel microparticle-based approach could have wide-ranging therapeutic implications and may rapidly transform the treatment of inflammatory disease.

http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/6/219/219ra7

http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/6/219/219fs4.abstract