Dalhousie lab hopes curbing scar tissue could prevent heart failure

A cardiac researcher in Halifax is looking at ways to prevent scar tissue from building up in the heart, in hopes of reducing the risk of heart failure.

Dalhousie University's director of cardiac research,Dr.Jean-FrancoisLegare,and his lab arelooking at ways to inhibit the factors that cause the buildup of scar tissue.

"For us to be able to prevent the replacement of your heart muscle by scar, we would have a tremendous impact on heart failure in the world," Legaresaid.

"That would be an incredible maybe a fountain of youth discovery."

Legare, who is a cardiac surgeon,told CBC Radio's Information Morningthat scar tissue can come from trauma such as a heart attack or health issuessuch as high blood pressure.

"The reason someone with high blood pressure develops scarring is not entirely clear, but there is clearly some evidence that you would have some injury over time by just having high blood pressure," he said.

Scarring can lead to heart failure

Legare said that injury bringsa response from thebody to promote healing, and just like when peoplecut themselves, it's possible to get eitherrelatively little scarring or a large amount.

"The problem with a scar on a heart muscle is it doesn't contract, it isn't a functional part of your heart muscleand [if] youreplace enough of your heart muscle with scar tissue it doesn't work anymore and that's called heart failure," he said.

Heart failure is becoming an increasingly important factor in medical research because in recent years research has made other diseases more treatable, leading to longer life expectancies.

As people live longer there is more opportunity for scar tissue to build up on their hearts and that has made heart failure one of the leading causes of death,Legaresaid.

Fundraising for tissue bank

Legare'sresearchwill be one of the beneficiariesof the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation's Molly Appeal this year.

The annual campaignis trying to raise money for a tissue bank that would allow researchers to save samples from cardiac patients for years, or even decades, allowing the integration of the day-to-day clinical treatment of patients with ongoing research.

The bank would allow researchers tocheck for common factors among cardiac patients and use that information in the search for treatments.

It's possible toexamine living tissue for years or even decades after the samples are collected and frozen, the foundation says.

Proceeds from this year's campaign will go to researchers working at Dalhousie's medical school in Nova Scotia and New Brunwsick.