Jab to boost heart attack patients

INJECTIONS of a protein can boost the heart in a similar way to exercise — and could prevent heart failure, say researchers from Ottawa Hospital.

The heart usually heals badly after a heart attack, becoming overly enlarged and floppy, leading to heart failure, where it can’t pump blood as efficiently as before.

Now a study published in the journal Cell Research has found that injecting a protein called CT1 into a damaged heart encouraged it to repair tissue and grow new blood vessels — increasing the heart’s ability to pump blood — as happens with exercise, said the Canadian researchers, who hope to get approval to test the therapy in humans soon.