RNA to regenerate the heart after a heart attack
Italian-led research studies a '2-in-1' drug capable of growing new tissue and blood vessels
3' min read
3' min read
Regenerating the heart after a heart attack by stimulating the formation of new tissue and new blood vessels through a '2-in-1' RNA-based drug. This is the aim of the international research project Rescue - Bridging the gap between cardiac regeneration and revascularization, funded by the European Union with EUR 1.5 million and coordinated by the University of Trieste, in collaboration with the Monzino Cardiology Centre in Milan and cardiac regeneration and angiogenesis experts from Spain, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Turkey.
The project is promoted by the EU Era4Health partnership, which supports collaboration between different European and international research institutions in priority areas in the health sector, fostering the development of therapeutic innovations. Of the EUR 1.5 million funding, more than EUR 600,000 are earmarked for Italy through the Ministry of University and Research and the Ministry of Health.
"For many years, progress in the fields of cardiac regeneration and angiogenesis have proceeded in parallel, without talking to each other. However, repairing a heart damaged by an infarction requires the formation of both new heart muscle and new blood vessels. With the Rescue project, we aim to bridge this gap between cardiac regeneration and revascularisation: we want, in fact, to develop a new biological drug containing two active ingredients - and in particular two RNA molecules - that can regenerate the heart and simultaneously promote the vascularisation of the regenerated tissue,' explains project coordinator Serena Zacchigna, a molecular biologist from the Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences at the University of Trieste and director of the cardiovascular biology laboratory at Icgeb (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology).
The researchers have already identified a number of candidate molecules, which have been shown to promote the proliferation of heart muscle cells on the one hand and the formation of new blood vessels, both small capillaries and larger arteries, on the other. Over the next three years, researchers will experiment with different combinations until they identify the most effective one. This will be the first time that two biological molecules, capable of stimulating these two fundamental processes for the repair of an infarcted heart, are combined in a single drug, to demonstrate synergy of action.
The University of Trieste - the only Italian university leading one of the 17 projects selected by the Cardinnov call - will coordinate the study in collaboration with the Centro Cardiologico Monzino, in particular with the research group of Giulio Pompilio, scientific director and alternate Italian delegate to the Committee for Advanced Therapies (Cat) of the European Medicines Agency (Ema).
