After stem cells showed their ability to treat heart attack scars, a vaccination approach to the same does sound fruitful. The team at British Heart Foundation (BHF) has revealed a vaccine that may be used to treat heart disease in patients.
In this therapeutic alternative, individuals suffering from cardiovascular disease (CVD) are vaccinated for the treatment of atherosclerosis. This way of dealing with the condition targets the source of the complication and thereby affects the outcomes effectively.
Professor Peter Weissberg, our Medical Director cited, “A vaccination approach to the treatment of atherosclerosis is based on an attempt to interfere with the cellular mechanisms that cause life threatening build up of fatty deposits. There will be great interest in the outcome of the on-going studies to see firstly if this approach is safe and secondly, whether it can influence the progression of vascular disease in the long termâ€
The team is all set to begin trials for gauging the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. The second aspect that professionals wish to study is whether this form of therapy could have a long term impact on the life of patients.
Though the vaccination program shows great promise, it will take a few years before the treatment can materialize. The scientists wish to know whether patients could duly benefit from this form of treatment. Considering that atherosclerosis is the root cause of heart disease, combating the former will subsequently lead to treatment of the latter.
The vaccination approach is being presented at the Frontiers in Cardiovascular Biology meeting conducted by the European Society of Cardiology’s Council on Basic Cardiovascular Science (CBCS).