Heart failure could be cured with an antibody discovered in survivors, scientists hope after finding three men whose condition improved naturally.
Until now, experts had believed there was no way of reversing heart failure caused by the build-up of sticky toxic amyloid proteins, with half of patients dying within four years of diagnosis.
But a team at the Royal Free Hospital and University College London (UCL) reported that three men aged 68, 76 and 82, are now free of symptoms after their condition spontaneously reversed.
New treatments
Lead author Prof Marianna Fontana, of UCL Division of Medicine, said: “We have seen for the first time that the heart can get better with this disease.
“That has not been known until now and it raises the bar for what might be possible with new treatments.”
