Hope that our hearts will grow again
Your
donations are helping us fund a £260,000 research project looking
at how genetic mistakes stop the heart developing correctly early
in our lives.
Studying the early development of the
heart is a vital part of the science behind
our Mending Broken Hearts Appeal. We were all
able to grow a new, whole heart once - in the womb,
before we were born. But later in life, we can't regrow or repair
our hearts if they are damaged by a heart attack.
Professor Deborah Henderson at the University
of Newcastle and her team are researching one of the genetic
mistakes that can cause congenital
heart disease. Approximately 1 in 145 babies
are born with faulty hearts, leading to many of them needing
operations throughout their lives.
Most of these heart defects are caused by
genetic errors, but many of the specific genes that are responsible
have yet to be identified.
Studying the early development of the heart is a vital part of the science behind our Mending Broken Hearts Appeal
Donations from our
supporters are helping us give
£260,000 to fund
Professor Henderson’s study, which will look at a gene called
Vangl2, which is thought to play an important role
right at the start of life, in the developing embryo.
The team will study the gene’s effects, in
mice, on a blood vessel called the outflow tract. As the embryo
grows, this blood vessel eventually turns into all the main
arteries in the body. Their findings will improve our understanding
of the causes of heart defects, and could give clues about how they
may be treated or prevented.
In the coming years, scientists like Professor
Henderson will study how human hearts grow and develop at the
beginning of our lives. If we can find out how to turn this lost
ability back on, we could develop a new cure for heart
failure - the ultimate aim of Mending Broken Hearts.
