Article Synopsis
- Cardiomyocytes in adult human hearts have a low regeneration rate of about 0.5% per year, raising questions about their role in heart failure recovery.
- Patients with advanced heart failure showed dramatically reduced cardiomyocyte renewal, with rates significantly lower than healthy individuals, while those with left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) experienced a notable increase in regeneration.
- These results suggest that the heart retains a potential for regeneration in disease states, which could be harnessed for future therapies.
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Article Abstract
Background: Cardiomyocytes in the adult human heart show a regenerative capacity, with an annual renewal rate of ≈0.5%. Whether this regenerative capacity of human cardiomyocytes is employed in heart failure has been controversial.
Methods: We determined cardiomyocyte renewal in 52 patients with advanced heart failure, 28 of whom received left ventricular assist device support. We measured the concentration of nuclear bomb test-derived C in cardiomyocyte genomic DNA and performed mathematical modeling to establish cardiomyocyte renewal in heart failure with and without LVAD unloading.
Results: We show that cardiomyocyte generation is minimal in end-stage heart failure patients at rates 18 to 50× lower compared with the healthy heart. However, patients receiving left ventricle support device therapy, who showed significant functional and structural cardiac improvement, had a >6-fold increase in cardiomyocyte renewal relative to the healthy heart.
Conclusions: Our findings reveal a substantial cardiomyocyte regeneration potential in human heart disease, which could be exploited therapeutically.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11748904 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.123.067156 | DOI Listing |
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