Rejuvenating hearts to make better scars

Ischemic heart disease and myocardial infarction (MI) affect thousands of people in Norway (WHO 2022), and an estimate of 126 million individuals around the world. While improved acute care protocols have reduced the initial risk of death, the long-term consequences of a heart attack remain severe. A significant number of individuals live with cardiac complications derived from MI, creating a huge health burden and straining healthcare systems globally.

In this project, we step away from the traditional remuscularization approach to treating MI and instead proposes making “better scars” by targeting cardiac fibroblasts (FB), the scar-making cells. Specifically, we aim to clarify the mechanisms by which “rejuvenated” cardiomyocytes (CM) reduce FB activation in vitro and evaluate the potential of CM rejuvenation through HIPPO pathway inhibitors in vivo to reduce post MI scar formation and improve cardiac function.

UiT