@article{ATM7870,
author = {Federica Santoro and Makoto Sahara},
title = {A specified therapeutic window for neuregulin-1 to regenerate neonatal heart muscle},
journal = {Annals of Translational Medicine},
volume = {3},
number = {17},
year = {2015},
keywords = {},
abstract = {The most prominent cause of impaired cardiac function in adults is ischemic heart disease such as myocardial infarction, whereas decreased heart function in children is generally the consequence of congenital heart disease (CHD), structural malformations of the heart that are present at birth. Heart defects are the most common birth defect in humans—and the most deadly too, boasting the infamous title of leading cause of birth defect-related morbidity and mortality (1). One in 100 newborns display signs of minor CHD, but in one out of 1,000 cases the malformations are severe enough to necessitate surgical intervention. The therapeutic conundrum is that surgical repair is often life-saving, but may not be enough by itself to guarantee the child a carefree existence later on. The human heart has virtually no inherent regenerative capability and despite long-standing efforts, no valid cardiac regenerative therapy proven to be clinically effective exists to date. Since scarred and dysfunctional regions of the heart cannot be replaced, children with CHD are at greater risk of developing chronic heart failure—even after surgical correction of the malformation (2,3). Unfortunately, currently available pharmacological therapies for heart failure were developed with the adult patient in mind and proved ineffective in pediatric trials, highlighting the need for child-specific heart failure therapies (4).},
issn = {2305-5847}, url = {https://atm.amegroups.org/article/view/7870}
}