24/11/2010

Heart cells of an adult die differently from the others, because they have no molecules that trigger apoptosis (controlled cell death) and, instead, produce others (such as a protein called EndoG) that are causing them death as they spin in a stressful situation. This research is of great importance to find mechanisms that help prevent heart failure who suffers most people who have had a heart attack. It also explains why failed most of the experimental treatments applied in recent years around the world to stop the injury of the myocardium (heart muscle tissue), while paving the way for designing new treatments that can be effective.These are the results of pioneering research at the global level that goes against the prevailing scientific theory during the last decade on the mechanisms of death of heart muscle. This research was carried by the University of Lleida and by the group of cell signalling and apoptosi, at Institute for Biomedical Research Institute of Lleida. Daniel Sanchis, Marta Llovera, Junmei Ye, Maria Cardona, Jisheng Zhang and Nuria Bahi, members of this group, worked together with former UdL professor and now director of Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), Joan Comella, and Xavier Cañas, from Barcelona Science Park.