CUPID Brings Hope for Hearts

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-drug-treatment-heart-failure.html

This link is basically about how scientists have found a drug that can possibly treat or prevent heart failure. CUPID stands for Calcium Up-regulation by Percutaneous administration of gene therapy In cardiac Disease.  In this study, scientists observed that SUMO1, a protein, was very low in failing hearts.  They then injected failing hearts with this protein and found that they improved.  Scientists also found that when they injected SERCA2a, there was increased cardiac funcion; however, the SERCA2a stopped working after a while.  Two experts at Mount Sinai School of Medicine discovered that SUMO1 is a regulator of SERCA2a by increasing its function, stability, and enzyme activity.  Scientists hope that with more tests, it will lead to the treatment and possibly prevention of heart failure.

I think it's good that scientists are looking for ways to prevent heart failure because it means that this is one less reason to get a heart transplant.  If someone is suffering from heart failure, then they'll need a transplant.  If everything goes well with the trials, then people can get injections instead.  Injections would be better than transplants because it's easier to get injections than it would be to wait for someone to die that had the same blood type.  There are many people on the waiting list that may not live long enough to get a heart.  Because of this, I think this treatment can lead to saving more lives.

In the future, I think this treatment becoming a big success and leading to the development of other treatments.  From this trial, scientists can get the same idea and apply the same principle to other organs.  I think this treatment would be more common than having a heart transplant because it's more convenient and less risky.  This study shows a lot of promise for treatments of the future.