Key Factor in Heart Development Discovered

San Francisco researchers have identified a key factor in heart development that could help advance gene therapy for treating cardiac disorders.

Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease researchers evaluated the role of short RNAs, also known as miRNAs, in the early stages of the developing heart.

The findings, published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help cardiac stem cell researchers one day develop strategies for gene and cell-mediated cardiac therapies.

Senior author Dr. Deepak Srivastava, Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease director, said RNAs are nucleic acids found in all living cells that help transfer information from DNA to the protein-forming system of the cell. They also express — that is, instruct to turn on or off — genes within that transferred information. MiRNAs are short RNAs that repress gene expression to control a variety of developmental processes.