Sadayappan said stem cell therapy could be a possible treatment. Stem cells would be taken from a patient's heart, genetically engineered to replace the mutated gene with a healthy gene, and then injected back in the patient's heart. But such stem cell therapy has not been tested. Nor is there a commercial test for the gene, Sadayappan said.But Sadayappan and other scientists are actively researching how cMyBP-C functions. And improved understanding of this crucial protein, Sadayappan said, could lead to new drugs to treat heart failure.

Next year is the 40th anniversary of the discovery of cMyBP-C, and scientists still have much to learn about the function of this protein in the heart. Sadayappan's lab is helping lead the way by investigating the cardiomyopathy disease mechanism that could lead to new therapies to improve muscle function in heart failure patients. His long-term goal is to continue his cutting edge laboratory research to delineate the role of cMyBP-C protein function in the heart.

Sadayappan's review article was published in the January, 2010 issue of the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology.

SOURCE Loyola University Health System