Shanghai and Hong Kong researchers unlocks key heart repair mechanism

(ECNS) -- A joint research team from Shanghai and Hong Kong published a landmark study in the journal Science on Friday, revealing the mechanisms behind the heart's innate emergency blood-supply pathway. The discovery could lead to game-changing treatments for acute myocardial infarction.

The 10-year collaborative project, jointly led by researcher Zhou Bin of the Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Professor Kathy Lui of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, found that when major cardiac arteries are blocked during a heart attack, tiny capillaries – previously regarded as mere narrow “side paths” – are reprogrammed to remodel themselves into functional collateral arteries.

These spontaneous new vessels act as natural bypass channels, rerouting blood around blocked sections to rescue damaged heart tissue. The finding overturns the longheld belief that collateral arteries can only arise from preexisting arterial structures.

The breakthrough paves the way for targeted therapies to stimulate the heart to grow its own life-saving networks, offering a promising new treatment direction for all types of ischemic heart disease.

(By Intern Lin Qiaochu, Zhang Dongfang)