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SHRI cardiologist taps into cell research
Sun City West, Sun City Grand, Surprise, Glendale, Peoria, El Mirage, Youngtown: Topstory:
It’s not often that someone bases a life-altering decision on a television program.
Then again, Mohamed Gaballa, Ph.D., isn’t just anybody.
At the time, Gaballa – now director of Banner Sun Health Research Institute’s Center for Cardiovascular Research — was a student in his 20s, working on a doctorate thesis for aerospace and mechanical engineering, when a heart-disease program caught his eye.
“What struck me then is that they were trying to treat the symptoms because there is no cure,” he recalled. “And I thought, ‘Hmm … we can send a man to the moon, but we can’t fix that?’ Something had to be done.”
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When the heart is not pumping at its full capacity, Gaballa said, the kidney blood flow is alerted, causing the release of a protein called renin and setting off a domino effect of activities resulting in production of the vasoconstrictor angiotensin II.
While the body’s natural response is not problematic in the case of a momentary decrease in blood pressure, it can prove catastrophic to an individual with existing heart issues. In that instance, constricting the blood vessels puts additional strain on the heart muscle and can cause further damage. ACE inhibitors keep angiotensin II from being produced, thus alleviating pressure on an already overworked and underpowered heart.
“But it doesn’t solve the problem,” Gaballa added. “It is not a cure, it does not rebuild the heart, and you still can’t run up stairs or do things you used to do.”
As he learned more about genetically based diseases, gene therapy seemed the next logical step.
“If you go in and can successfully replace the abnormal gene with a working gene, it stands to reason you will eradicate disease,” he said.
One segment of Gaballa’s research involved introducing a functional gene into one’s system using a virus. Just as with influenza, the virus would be transmitted from one subject to the next, invading red blood cells.
“It worked,” he said. “However, you cannot treat heart disease this way. Just as a flu virus will only last so long before your (white) cells recognize it is foreign and attack it, so it is the same. After a 21-day cycle, it will have exited your system.”
So, once again, the scientist and engineer had to take a step back in order to examine the whole.
“The Holy Grail of cardiology is trying to figure out how to fix that scar tissue,” he said. “So far, there is no way to heal or rebuild it.”
Now, Gaballa seemingly is within reach of a viable solution with his most recent research involving non-embryonic stem cells — from the patient’s own heart.
Using a minuscule snip of cardiac tissue from an excision of the heart patient’s right atrium, Gaballa’s goal is to isolate the stem, or progenitor, cells and increase their number before implanting back into the patient’s heart to repair the damaged muscle tissue.
Healthy cells collected from the tissue excision are treated with a digestive enzyme and put in a culture medium in a climate- and pH-controlled environment mirroring that of the human body. As the cells begin to multiply, they exit the in vitro medium and band together, forming a cluster.
As we age, Gaballa said, our cells do not regenerate as quickly. For a heart patient between ages of 55 and 75, he estimated it would take approximately three to four weeks for the in vitro cell-regeneration process to occur before the healthy cell cluster is ready to be reintroduced to the host’s heart.
“I am very encouraged by my current research, because it most closely mirrors nature,” he said. “We’re just facilitating the process.”
Banner Boswell Medical Center CEO Dave Cheney said he believes the scientist’s investigations are heading in a direction that will produce health and economic benefits far beyond the reach of the West Valley.
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