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A PROFESSOR AT University College Cork (UCC) has shown that a single injection could help repair damaged hearts.
Professor Noel Caplice, the chair of Cardiovascular Sciences at UCC, and his colleagues at Cork University Hospital have shown that low dose insulin-like growth factor can help repair damage to the heart.
Some 47 patients, who had all experienced large heart attacks, took part in the trial – the first of its kind in the world.
Around 20% of people who suffer heart attacks have severe ongoing difficulties because of lasting damage to heart muscle even after the best current therapies, often resulting in patients developing long-term heart failure, associated with increased morbidity and mortality.
As part of the trial, patients received two different low dose preparations of insulin-like growth factor or placebo. People who received the higher dose showing improved remodelling of their heart muscle in the two-month follow-up after their heart attack, which correlated with other measures of improved heart performance.
Speaking about the development, Caplice said: “We are delighted that an important human study like this could be funded in Ireland and performed in Cork.
“This pilot trial is the first of its kind worldwide showing that single injection of low dose IGF1 is safe and can improve cardiac repair after a large heart attack.
We hope that these findings can be replicated in potentially larger trials of many hundred subjects in the future. A significant minority of our patients currently remain unwell after a large heart attack despite best clinical practice and we are excited by the possibility that cardiac repair therapy may help these patients.
The trial was funded by a €1 million grant under a joint research programme run by the Health Research Board (HRB) and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI).
If future bigger trials are successful, the growth factor could be applied more widely to improve the quality of life and life expectancy of patients who have suffered a large heart attack, and be financially beneficial to the health service by reducing ongoing care costs.
‘I felt very vulnerable’
John Nolan from New Ross in Wexford was one of the patients involved in the trial. He suffered a heart attack in December 2014. “I feel I was blessed to be asked to be involved. I had confidence that good would come from it, in terms of how they explained it to me,” he said.
His wife Margaret added: “Even as a nurse, I felt very vulnerable at the thought that my husband could’ve died. I speak on behalf of myself and my children, I’m really grateful for the aftercare and attention John received as a result of being on his trial.”
Dr Mairéad O’Driscoll, interim chief executive at the HRB, said results like these are “a perfect illustration of why the HRB has invested so much in building Ireland’s capacity to conduct clinical trials”.
Professor Mark Ferguson, SFI director general and Chief Scientific Adviser to the government, also welcomed the news, noting that collaborative research groups “can produce life-changing advances in health research, with the potential to positively impact on patient wellbeing globally”.
The research has been recognised and peer-reviewed by the European Society of Cardiology and the trial will be presented for the first time at the organisation’s Heart Failure 2017 conference in Paris today.
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Schools are more and more being asked to do things which are actually the parent’s job.
@sean o’dhubhghaill: a lot of what you learn in secondary school is not actually pertinent to real life. This is, so what is the harm in it being thought at home and in school?
@A$AP Ragnick: Looks like we’ll have a lot of hygienic, nice and socially conscious people who are academically inept.
@Elrond Rivendell: your right, because it’s impossible to introduce one new module, and the only way to do so would be to eliminate every other subject from the school curriculum so it can be thought 8 hours a day. Silly me.
@A$AP Ragnick: Crikey! Well if your writing is anything to go by, wellbeing and hygiene we’re definitely taught over grammar in your place. To address your substantive point, the original point was that schools are teaching a lot of things that should be taught at home. Your response was along the lines of yeah grand because a lot of things on the curriculum are useless. Wellbeing already gets 100 hours more than English, Irish or Maths and 200 hours more than Science, History, Business, Geography, Languages or any practical subjects at Junior Cycle. I think the evidence that we are developing a lot of people who are well versed in hygiene, mental health, social consciousness and such over academically able students is evidenced by the emphasis in the Junior Cycle programme.
@Elrond Rivendell: **were** being taught. Damn auto-correct. Laughing at the irony myself here!
Well done Helen McEntee, this initiative long overdue
Thank you Helen McEntee.
I’m heartened to hear this.
Domestic abuse inflicted by woman on men is a hidden tragedy in this country.
Helen McEntee would make a fantastic Taoiseach.
@Darren: you’d make a much better comedian
@Graham Manning: and you what would you make ?
@Margaret Mcgarry: Listen listen, Graham is one of these “all politicians are dopes and on the take” people. The barstool expert who spouts opinions online that in the days before the internet were only heard at the bar or on the street corner but because he publishes it online, it now becomes fact. Don’t let him bother you.
@Margaret Mcgarry: An English teacher. Want a grind???
@Elrond Rivendell: says the person convinced introducing this will make students academically inept???
Excellent news!
I like this Helen McEntee.
About time, I feel so ashamed and guilty about being a man, especially a straight, white man.
We need to make sure none of our boys grow up with self respect and confidence.
Critical race theory is hopefully next.
Our schools need third wave feminism urgently before even more of our children get brainwashed by the patriarchy to believe that men and fathers deserve the same rights and respect as women and mothers.
@Dan Broderick: It was inevitable that someone would have a spectacularly bad take on this. Congrats on hitting every buzz word on the “woke madness” bingo card while somehow suggesting that teaching people about consent negatively impacts their confidence. Thankfully, it’s a dying breed that yearns for the good old days when men were men, wha?
@OnlyHereForTheComments: Misogyny was mentiined twice in the closing paragraph. This shows the true meaning behind the story, this isn’t about equality, this is more ignorant man hating nonsense.
Real men are a dying breed and the anti male agenda isn’t even hidden anymore…..nothing more pathetic, dangerous and repulsive to women as a male feminist
@Dan Broderick: “real men are a dying breed” Lol. Upset that the story mentioned misogyny? The fragility is strong with you.
Speaking at the launch, the Taoiseach said that misogyny has “no place” in Irish society.
I agree but what about Misandry or is that still acceptable in society?? It does exist also, in fact one could argue that the taoiseachs statement could be construed as such? He should have said theres no place for misanthropy – at least thats non-biased.
Teaching both sexes to respect each other covers most scenarios. Parents who allow their young 10-12 year old kids and teenagers to roam around committing anti social behaviour need to cop on . When they get away with it that young it emboldens them do worse as they get older. Why should the teachers be landed with the parents responsibility’s.
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