A TEAM of North-East scientists funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has begun working on a project that could lead to a revolution in the way doctors treat heart attacks.

Ultimately, the team is hoping it can develop a protein-based solution that could be injected into damaged hearts after someone has suffered a heart attack.

If this approach works – and there is evidence that this is a promising line of research – it could lead to hearts repairing themselves by growing new blood vessels.

It is already known that stem cells found in the adult heart, known as cardiosphere-derived cells, have the potential to form blood vessels in a damaged heart.

Project leader Dr Helen Arthur, a senior lecturer in molecular cardiovascular medicine at Newcastle University, is already able to make this new tissue in the lab using experimental models.

But she is not sure how effective this might be when treating people whose hearts have been damaged by a heart attack.

The Newcastle team is particularly interested in the protein molecules these cells produce because they seem to have a key role in stimulating the heart to repair itself.

By studying these proteins, Dr Arthur hopes the team will be able to develop a treatment that can be given to people after a heart attack.

The BHF-funded team, which is based at the Institute for Genetic Medicine at the Centre for Life, will use laboratory mice to stand in for human patients.

Because the structure of the heart in mice is very similar to the human heart, and because more than 90 per cent of human genes have equivalent genes in mice, it is hoped that progress can be made in identifying the substance that promotes the growth of new cells.

“We need to identify the substance these cells secrete and find a way of using this in humans,” Dr Arthur said.

The Centre for Life project is funded for five years and is dependent on supporters of the BHF all over the region.

A spokeswoman for the BHF said: “With the support of the UK public, we hope to raise vital funds to support more regenerative medicine research like Helen’s. Research like this offers hope of a cure for heart failure by one day allowing us to literally mend broken hearts.”