Injection to slash risk of heart attacks could be available within 10 years

A SINGLE injection that slashes heart attack risk by up to 90 per cent could be available within 10 years, according to new research.

The jab, that only has to be administered once, has already been tested successfully on mice, and uses cutting-edge DNA-editing technology to “knock out” a liver gene linked to raised levels of cholesterol in the bloodstream.

In the laboratory tests, the injection in the mice reduced blood concentrations of cholesterol by 35 per cent to 40 per cent within days. A similar impact on cholesterol in humans would lower the risk of heart attacks by as much as 90 per cent.

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US lead scientist Dr Kiran Musunuru, from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI), said: “Heart attack is the leading natural killer worldwide, with one in two men and one in three women past the age of 40 having heart attacks in their lifetimes.

“If you had a therapy that targeted the liver, changed the genome – and if it were totally safe – then at least in theory you could think of this therapy as something like a vaccination.”

He said although the research was at a very early stage, the first trial patients could be offered the treatment within a decade.

The jab targets a liver gene called PCSK9 which is known to regulate levels of harmful cholesterol, or low-density lipoprotein (LDL).

The findings are reported in the American Heart Association journal Circulation Research.