Immunotherapy could also help against certain heart conditions

Immunotherapy — in which a patient’s own T cells are modified to help better fight disease — have largely been used against cancer, but new mouse research suggests it could also prove valuable against heart conditions. Specifically, researchers looked at using the therapy against cardiac fibrosis, which is a stiffening of heart muscle that leaves it unable to function properly. Scientists modified mouse T cells to target the heart cells that lead to fibrosis. Mice were engineered to develop heart disease and one set was injected with these modified T cells — these mice were less likely to develop cardiac fibrosis than the control mice who were untreated. Scientists also engineered mouse T cells to target a specific protein within fibrosis-producing heart cells, and mice that received an infusion of these cells had reduced fibrosis as well as better heart function.