Blood iron induces chronic heart failure in half of heart attack survivors


A multi-institution study has identified that iron drives the formation of fatty tissue in the heart and leads to chronic heart failure in about fifty percent of heart attack survivors. The discovery, recently published in Nature Communications, paves the way for treatments that have the potential to prevent heart failure in nearly half a million people a year in the United States, and many millions more worldwide.

“For the first time, we have identified a root cause of chronic heart failure following a heart attack,” the author said.

The multi-million-dollar study found that in heart attacks that result in bleeding within the heart muscle—which is about half of them—scar tissue is slowly replaced by fat. Fatty tissue can’t push blood from the heart effectively, and this is what leads to heart failure and eventually to death in many survivors of hemorrhagic heart attacks, the author said.

“Using noninvasive imaging, histology and molecular biology techniques, and various other technologies, we have shown that iron from red blood cells is what drives this process,” the author explained. “When we removed the iron, we reduced the amount of fat in the heart muscle. This finding establishes a pathway for clinical investigations to remedy or mitigate the effects associated with iron in hemorrhagic myocardial infarction patients.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-33776-x

http://sciencemission.com/site/index.php?page=news&type=view&id=publications%2Fintramyocardial_2&filter=22

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