Investigating Thymosin beta4-mediated myocardial regeneration and anti-inflammatory wound healing in the injured heart

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Coronary artery disease resulting in heart attacks is the number one killer worldwide. Approaches to curing or mitigating the effects of a heart attack have to-date principally involved surgical intervention such as coronary vessel intervention or artery bipass. In the field of biomedical research considerable effort has been invested in the search for adult or embryonic stem cells which may replace damaged cells in a diseased heart or in the identification of key factors (proteins) which may induce resident stem cells within the adult heart to initiate repair. Our studies seek to characterise one such factor, Thymosin beta4 (Tbeta4) in terms of its potential to orchestrate a DIY repair mechanism within the diseased/injured adult heart. We have significant evidence from previous studies that Tbeta4 can promote survival of heart muscle cells in an animal model of human heart attack and that it may also induce new blood vessels (a process called vasculogenesis) to help sustain the surviving healthy cells and facilitate repair of the injured heart. We will now confirm a role for Tbeta4 in initiating regeneration of lost muscle in the adult heart proper and also investigate whether this new muscle growth is accompanied by reduced inflammation and scarring to futher promote wound healing. Tbeta4 is currently in the early stages of phase I clinical trials for treatment of heart attack, the proposed studies therefore, seek to understand the mechanisms underlying how Tbeta4 may act as a regenerative therapy for heart disease.