Australian study finds heart cells can regenerate post-heart attack; India’s leading cardiologist calls it a ‘big step’

For a long time, we’ve been told the same thing about the heart. Once it’s damaged, that’s it. Heart cells don’t grow back. After a heart attack, the muscle scars, the damage stays, and doctors focus on managing what’s left. That idea has shaped how we think about recovery for decades.But an Australian study is gently pushing back on that belief. Not with hype or wild promises. Just with careful data and a quieter kind of hope.“Pioneering research by experts at the University of Sydney, the Baird Institute and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney has shown that heart muscle cells regrow after a heart attack, opening up the possibility of new regenerative treatments for cardiovascular disease,” the University of Sydney has said. “Until now we’ve thought that, because heart cells die after a heart attack, those areas of the heart were irreparably damaged, leaving the heart less able to pump blood to the body’s organs. Our research shows that while the heart is left scarred after a heart attack, it produces new muscle cells, which opens up new possibilities. Although this new discovery of regrowing muscle cells is exciting, it isn’t enough to prevent the devastating effects of a heart attack. Therefore, in time, we hope to develop therapies that can amplify the heart’s natural ability to produce new cells and regenerate the heart after an attack,” first author Dr Robert Hume, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health and Charles Perkins Centre, and Lead of Translational Research at the Baird Institute for Applied Heart and Lung Research has explained.

Heart disease and India

In 2021, India reported a total of 2,873,266 deaths due to cardiovascular diseases (as per World Heart Observatory data). ” An estimated 17.9 million people died from CVDs in 2016, representing 31% of all global deaths. Of these deaths, 85% were due to heart attack and stroke,” the World Health Organisation (WHO) says. “In 2016 India reported 63% of total deaths due to NCDs, of which 27% were attributed to CVDs. CVDs also account for 45% of deaths in the 40-69 year age group,” the WHO has said.“So this study basically is trying to find out if heart cells can regenerate. So we know every condition that happens to the heart, whether it is ischemia or infarction, which is infarction is a heart attack and when the heart attack happens, the cells become dead. Now, human cells in the heart cells do not have that capacity to regenerate. Unlike the liver, the heart does not have the capacity to regenerate. But this study just showed that it tries to do that through mitosis to regenerate the cells, but we know clinically that this is not significant. So, our patients are not benefiting from this small amount of mitosis that happens to regenerate. So there has been, I can see three decades where there have been trials of using stem cells to regenerate this myocardium,” Dr. Balbir Singh, Group Chairman – Cardiac Sciences, Pan Max & Chief of Interventional Cardiology and Electrophysiology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket told TOI Health.“So, you can inject stem cells into the heart and try to improve the regeneration, but nothing has helped. Nothing has worked so far. So, any attempt to increase this regeneration is going to be a very big step,” he added. “This discovery will mean a big change in the treatment of the end stage heart disease and many, many patients will benefit out of this,” Dr Balbir said. Medical experts consulted This article includes expert inputs shared with TOI Health by: Dr. Balbir Singh, Group Chairman – Cardiac Sciences, Pan Max & Chief of Interventional Cardiology and Electrophysiology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, SaketInputs were used to explain the Australian study that found how heart muscle cells can be regenerated post heart attack.