Posted on 10/12/2025 2:59:04 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Researchers have discovered that an anti-inflammatory drug already being used to treat rheumatoid arthritis could dramatically improve recovery from heart attacks.
Even though most will survive their first heart attack, many still sustain severe heart damage. Sadly, this limits their quality of life and reduces their survival time. Around 25% will die within three years with 14% dying within a year. After a heart attack, inflammation is a critical source of heart damage and heart failure.
Researchers have now discovered in preclinical mouse models that the anti-inflammatory drug abatacept—commonly used to treat autoimmune disease—could address this long-standing problem.
Abatacept prevents the activation of T cells, a powerful type of white blood cell that acts like a general with the ability to coordinate the entire immune system. T cells also develop a specialized 'memory' that allows them to very quickly kill infected, dying and alien cells.
Normally, this enables them to provide long-lasting protection from infections and cancer. However, growing evidence shows that after a heart attack, T cells can go rogue and become major drivers of heart inflammation. This reduces the heart's ability to pump blood around the body.
In preclinical studies, the team has shown that abatacept treatment could stop T cells going into overdrive after a heart attack. This treatment reduced inflammation and protected the heart within one week, maintaining the heart's ability to beat effectively.
With abatacept already approved for treating autoimmune disease, the time to get this drug into the clinic could be significantly reduced. This means that in the future, abatacept could be given as a simple infusion within 72 hours of a heart attack to stop T cells going into overdrive. Even a single treatment could be enough to greatly improve long-term survival rates and quality of life for those suffering a heart attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
They have yet to do a study with humans with heart attacks, but the concept should allow doctors to use it, if warranted.
A single injection in the first 72 hours should do it.
Bkmk
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