New cell discovered that can heal hearts

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New cell discovered that can heal hearts

UCalgary researchers make a fundamental scientific discovery that could lead to new ways to repair damaged hearts

University of Calgary researchers were the first to discover a previously unidentified population of cells in the pericardial fluid found in the sac around the heart.

A new population of cells allows hearts to be repaired
This discovery could lead to new treatments for patients with hearts that have been injured. The study conducted by Drs. Paul Kubes, PhD, Justin Deniset, PhD, and Paul Fedak, MD, PhD, were published this month in Immunity magazine.

The Kubes laboratory, in collaboration with the Fedak laboratory, has discovered that a specific cell, a macrophage of the pericardial cavity Gata6+, can heal an injured heart in mice. This cell was discovered in the pericardial fluid (sac around the heart) of a mouse with heart damage.

In collaboration with Fedak, a cardiac surgeon and new director of the Alberta Libin Heart Institute, these same cells have also been found in the human pericardium of people with heart damage, confirming that repair cells offer the promise of a new therapy for patients with heart disease.

Cardiologists had never explored the possibility that cells located just outside the heart could help heal and repair the heart after an injury. Unlike other organs, the heart has a very limited ability to repair itself. That's why heart disease is the leading cause of death in North America.

Pericardial fluid is rich in healing cells
"Our discovery of a new cell capable of curing injured heart muscle will open the door to new therapies and give hope to the millions of people suffering from heart disease. We always knew that the heart was placed in a bag filled with liquid. We now know that this pericardial fluid is rich in healing cells.

These cells may hold the secret to the repair and regeneration of the new heart muscle. The possibilities of this new discovery and new innovative therapies are exciting and important," says Fedak, Professor in the Department of Cardiac Sciences.

Working together and providing multidisciplinary expertise, the core researchers working with a cardiac surgeon, a clinical researcher, identified this cell in less than three years - a relatively short period of time to move research from the laboratory model and animal to humans.

Justin Deniset, who is the first author of this study, has been working on this research since the beginning. "This project is the result of my desire to integrate my previous training in cardiovascular disease research with my current interest in the immune system in the Kubes laboratory.

The diverse expertise in both areas, combined with the state-of-the-art infrastructure we have here at the Cumming School of Medicine, makes it the ideal setting to undertake such an undertaking. Collaboration with a clinical scientist such as Dr. Fedak provided a different perspective to our research questions and reinforced the impact of our work.

Translating this discovery into new treatments
This type of partnership also paves the way for how we translate our findings from the bench to the clinic, which is our ultimate goal," he said.

Then Fedak hopes to recruit a core scientist to move this research to a larger study. This new program will expand collaboration between basic and clinical research to find potential new treatments to improve heart repair.