Heart attack deaths rising among young Americans<\/a><\/h4>\nFox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss a dramatic increase in fatal heart attacks among people under the age of 55 and how to keep the heart healthy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nNEW<\/span>You can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\nScientists have developed a new therapy designed to repair cardiac damage after a heart attack<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe study, led by researchers at Columbia University and published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, explored a two-step strategy that uses skeletal muscle to produce a healing molecule that activates when it reaches an injured heart.<\/p>\n
Unlike many organs, the adult human heart has a limited ability to repair itself after a heart attack, the researchers noted.<\/p>\n
DIABETES BREAKTHROUGH APPROACH COULD PROTECT CELLS AND PREVENT DISEASE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n“The heart is one of the organs with the least ability to regenerate,” Ke Cheng, a professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia and the study\u2019s lead author, said in a press release.<\/p>\n
Dead muscle is typically replaced by stiff scar tissue, often leading to heart failure. However, newborns’ hearts<\/a> can spontaneously regenerate during a brief window of time.<\/p>\n\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n\n\nScientists have developed a new therapy designed to repair cardiac damage after a heart attack.<\/span> (iStock)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n“The neonatal heart spontaneously produces more of this molecule after a heart attack,” Cheng said. “The adult can\u2019t produce a sufficient amount, so we found a way to supplement this to the heart.<\/p>\n
“The whole idea is that we learn from nature.”<\/p>\n
The secret to this treatment is a protein called ANP, which acts as a repair mechanism<\/a> for the heart, according to the researchers. Normally, this protein is impossible to use as a drug because it dissolves in the blood within minutes, long before it can reach the heart.<\/p>\nCLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nTo solve this, researchers turned the body\u2019s own skeletal muscles into a sort of factory to produce ANP, using a specialized RNA injection<\/a> to give the arm or leg muscles a set of instructions.<\/p>\nThese instructions tell the muscle to produce a “sleeping” version of the repair protein. This inactive version safely travels through the bloodstream until it hits the heart, according to the release.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Heart](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/1200\/675\/heart.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n\n\nDead muscle is typically replaced by stiff scar tissue, often leading to heart failure, the researchers noted.<\/span> (iStock)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOnce there, it meets a specific enzyme that acts like a key, “waking up” the protein so it can begin repairing exactly where it\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n
In preclinical trials<\/a> involving both small and large animals, a single injection into the limb reduced scarring and significantly improved heart function.<\/p>\nCLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nBecause the researchers used self-amplifying RNA, which replicates once it’s inside the body, the treatment continued to produce the healing protein for at least four weeks.<\/p>\n
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nThe therapy remained effective even when administered a week after the initial injury, providing hope for patients who do not receive immediate treatment, the researchers also found.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Man](\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1200\/675\/man-at-cardiologist.jpg?ve=1&tl=1\")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n\n\nThe treatment continued to produce the healing protein for at least four weeks.<\/span> (iStock)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n“The patient doesn’t have to go to the hospital today and tomorrow,” Cheng said, noting that the method avoids the risks associated with injecting treatments<\/a> directly into the heart muscle.<\/p>\nSo far, the treatment has only been tested in animals, which poses a significant limitation to the study. Human hearts are much more complex, and clinical trials are needed to determine whether they react in the same way.<\/p>\n
NEW<\/span>You can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Scientists have developed a new therapy designed to repair cardiac damage after a heart attack<\/a>.<\/p>\n The study, led by researchers at Columbia University and published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, explored a two-step strategy that uses skeletal muscle to produce a healing molecule that activates when it reaches an injured heart.<\/p>\n Unlike many organs, the adult human heart has a limited ability to repair itself after a heart attack, the researchers noted.<\/p>\n DIABETES BREAKTHROUGH APPROACH COULD PROTECT CELLS AND PREVENT DISEASE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n “The heart is one of the organs with the least ability to regenerate,” Ke Cheng, a professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia and the study\u2019s lead author, said in a press release.<\/p>\n Dead muscle is typically replaced by stiff scar tissue, often leading to heart failure. However, newborns’ hearts<\/a> can spontaneously regenerate during a brief window of time.<\/p>\n Scientists have developed a new therapy designed to repair cardiac damage after a heart attack.<\/span> (iStock)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “The neonatal heart spontaneously produces more of this molecule after a heart attack,” Cheng said. “The adult can\u2019t produce a sufficient amount, so we found a way to supplement this to the heart.<\/p>\n “The whole idea is that we learn from nature.”<\/p>\n The secret to this treatment is a protein called ANP, which acts as a repair mechanism<\/a> for the heart, according to the researchers. Normally, this protein is impossible to use as a drug because it dissolves in the blood within minutes, long before it can reach the heart.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n To solve this, researchers turned the body\u2019s own skeletal muscles into a sort of factory to produce ANP, using a specialized RNA injection<\/a> to give the arm or leg muscles a set of instructions.<\/p>\n These instructions tell the muscle to produce a “sleeping” version of the repair protein. This inactive version safely travels through the bloodstream until it hits the heart, according to the release.<\/p>\n Dead muscle is typically replaced by stiff scar tissue, often leading to heart failure, the researchers noted.<\/span> (iStock)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Once there, it meets a specific enzyme that acts like a key, “waking up” the protein so it can begin repairing exactly where it\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n In preclinical trials<\/a> involving both small and large animals, a single injection into the limb reduced scarring and significantly improved heart function.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Because the researchers used self-amplifying RNA, which replicates once it’s inside the body, the treatment continued to produce the healing protein for at least four weeks.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The therapy remained effective even when administered a week after the initial injury, providing hope for patients who do not receive immediate treatment, the researchers also found.<\/p>\n The treatment continued to produce the healing protein for at least four weeks.<\/span> (iStock)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n “The patient doesn’t have to go to the hospital today and tomorrow,” Cheng said, noting that the method avoids the risks associated with injecting treatments<\/a> directly into the heart muscle.<\/p>\n So far, the treatment has only been tested in animals, which poses a significant limitation to the study. Human hearts are much more complex, and clinical trials are needed to determine whether they react in the same way.<\/p>\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n