Cardiologists from University College London have reported a clinical case demonstrating the likelihood of the heart recovering. An article published by scientists magazine New England Journal of Medicine.
Three men, aged 68, 76, and 82, were diagnosed with transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis. Transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) is a serious genetic disease characterized by damage to organs and systems by the abnormal protein transthyretin produced by the liver. When the heart is affected, patients often develop chronic heart failure and other diseases.
Remarkably, all three recovered. Self-reports of improvement in symptoms were confirmed by testing. They showed that the accumulation of amyloid proteins in the heart disappeared. The researchers noted that the male body began to fight with proteins and secreted special antibodies. They were not found in other patients whose condition progressed as usual.
“This is the first time we’ve seen the heart recover from this disease. This is very likely, and there is a possibility to regenerate such antibodies in the laboratory and use them as a therapy,” the authors concluded.