Researchers at the Newcastle University in the United Kingdom have discovered how a drug typically used during transplant surgery could help prevent the heart from suffering damages after a heart attack.

In a study published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Director Ioakim Spyridopoulos of Newcastle's Cardiovascular Research Center and his colleagues examined how the heart of patients often suffer severe damage when doctors remove the blood clots that cause heart attack.

During a heart attack, white blood cells known as T-lymphocytes travel into the muscle of the heart where they can release a toxic chemical that is capable of killing off parts of the organ. These white blood cells and the chemical they produce are normally used to eliminate infections in the body.

The Newcastle researchers believe the key to preventing this form of damage on the heart could lie in finding out how to temporarily decrease a part of the patient's immune system immediately following a heart attack in order to stop T-lymphocytes from attacking the heart muscle.

Surgeons often use drugs such as cyclosporine to produce this effect after a major transplant to prevent the patient's body from rejecting the donated organ.

"Our research investigates exactly how we can target heart damage after a heart attack, and suggests drugs that could help," Spyridopoulos said.

"The beauty of this research is that we have used our new understanding of what happens inside the heart to help identify a potential drug that is already in use. If successful, heart attack patients could see the benefit of the study within a few years."

Associate medical director Jeremy Pearson of the British Heart Foundation pointed out that the results outlined in the Newcastle research suggest that doctors could help change the outcome for the 500 people in the United Kingdom that are taken to the hospital every day because of a heart attack.

He said that by utilizing a drug typically used for transplant surgery, the study's findings could be immediately tested on patients suffering from a heart attack.

Pearson added that they look forward to finding out the outcome of the trials conducted by the Newcastle researchers.

The findings of the Newcastle University study are featured in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Photo: Marc Falardeau | Flickr