A Novel Therapeutic Approach After a Heart Attack

Background

Myocardial infarction (MI) is a leading cause of cardiovascular diseases worldwide.  There are five million people that suffer from heart failure in the United States alone at a cost of $30 billion per year.  MI often results in scar formation and death of contracting heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes).  The subsequent scarring of cardiomyocytes will permanently damage a patient's heart, leading to a life threatening heart rate disorder (arrhythmia).  Despite therapeutic advances in heart disease, there are currently no treatments that can replace scarred cardiomyocytes with functional ones.

Technology Description

An investigator at the University of California, San Francisco, has identified a key target that allowed him to rescue cardiomyocytes from dying after a heart attack.  This discovery has never been reported before and can potentially be developed as a novel therapeutic drug alone or in conjunction with other therapeutic agents in the treatment of patients after a heart attack or heart failure.

Applications

• Target can be developed as a novel therapeutic drug in patients that suffered a heart attack or heart failure

Advantages

• Target has been shown to rescue cardiomyocytes from dying after a heart attack
• To date, there are no competing products on the market to treat post heart attacks using this target

Patent Status

Related Materials

• Yeghiazarians Y, et al., IL-15: a novel prosurvival signaling pathway in cardiomyocytes. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2014 May;63(5):406-11.