WED AM News: UW research uncovers protein that could regenerate damaged heart tissue; Elephas announces partnership with Mayo Clinic

February 21, 2024

— UW-Madison researchers have identified a protein that could be used to regenerate damaged heart tissue, giving heart failure patients hope for a potential treatment.

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation recently spotlighted the breakthrough as a “top licensing prospect” among UW-Madison health inventions. The protein, called LRRC10, was discovered by researchers Ahmed Mahmoud, Timothy Kamp and Youngsook Lee, who specialize in heart development and cardiac disease.

Improving treatments for coronary artery disease have led to better survival rates, according to Kamp, but many of these patients experience heart failure as their heart is unable to grow back damaged tissues. In remarks provided by WARF, Lee said the heart is the “least regenerative” organ.

“The crucial problem is to understand how we can make the cardiac muscle cells that were once damaged induced to divide, and so they regenerate and restore the function,” said Lee, a professor emerita in the university’s Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology.

In seeking to understand why adult heart cells don’t divide in this way, the research team found the key protein regulates the final phase of that cell division. LRRC10 is “necessary” for young cardiac muscle cells to divide, according to Lee.

Mahmoud, an assistant professor with the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, says “overexpressing” and reintroducing the protein causes the heart cells to complete the cell division process.

“It is involved when nature can’t do it on its own,” he said. “And now our goal is to control that and reintroduce that in an adult setting to reawaken this dormant regenerative capacity.”

The process for advancing the discovery involves testing in animal models followed by larger animals and eventually applying it in humans after clinical trials. To do so, therapies could insert the gene for the protein into a viral delivery mechanism to safely deliver it to the heart, according to Kamp.

“The technology for viral vectors and delivery of different genes to the body continues to improve dramatically over recent years, so there’s a number of ways we can get this gene encoding this important protein into the injured heart,” he said.

— Madison-based Elephas Biosciences Corporation announced it will partner with Mayo Clinic to develop a platform for predicting cancer patient responses to immunotherapy.

The biotech startup will work alongside specialists at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center on the new oncology imaging diagnostics platform, according to yesterday’s announcement.

“We are excited to be working with Mayo Clinic, an organization that shares our commitment to improving outcomes for patients fighting cancer,” Elephas founder and CEO Maneesh Arora said in a statement.

Under the multi-year research agreement, medical oncologists at the cancer center and the Elephas team will conduct an observational study to compare results from the testing platform with those from patients.

The Elephas platform treats patient biopsies that include tumor cells with potential immunotherapies to determine how the patient will respond to the cancer treatment. Its services can be used in basic research, drug discovery, preclinical candidate selection, clinical trials and more, according to the company’s website.

See more in the release.

Top headlines from the Health Care Report…

— UW-Madison scientists have created a new “toolbox” that can help other researchers study the process of cell death known as apoptosis.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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— Senate President Chris Kapenga has referred the Assembly’s controversial transmission line bill to the Natural Resources and Energy Committee even though his chamber’s version of the legislation has already cleared a committee chaired by the co-author.

Kapenga, R-Delafield, didn’t immediately respond to messages left with his office and on his cell phone. Neither did aides to Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, nor the office of GOP state Sen. Rob Cowles, who chairs the Natural Resources and Energy Committee.

The move could create a hurdle for the legislation, dubbed right of first refusal by backers, to clear the Senate before the session ends.

The Assembly last week approved via voice vote AB 470, which would give utilities already doing business in Wisconsin the right of first refusal to construct, own and maintain a new transmission line that connects to one of their existing ones.

Under Senate rules, the president has the power to assign bills to committee, and Kapenga yesterday sent the legislation to Cowles’ Natural Resources and Energy Committee.

The Senate version of the bill, SB 481, cleared the Utilities and Technology Committee 4-1 in November. That committee is chaired by Sen. Julian Bradley, who co-authored the legislation.

LeMahieu has said he’s been working to build support among Senate Republicans for the bill before bringing it to the floor. Both houses have to sign off on the same version of the legislation before it could go to Gov. Tony Evers’ desk.

Unless Cowles execs the Assembly version, it would complicate LeMahieu’s path to putting the legislation on the floor. If he scheduled the Senate version, for example, the chamber would have to sign off on the bill and then send it to the Assembly for final approval. That window is closing, though, with the Assembly expected to finish its work for the session on Thursday.

See more on AB 470.

— Gov. Tony Evers has signed legislation guaranteeing admission to UW schools for Wisconsin high school students if they finish in the top 10% of their class.

To be guaranteed admission to the flagship Madison campus, students would have to finish in the top 5%.

The bill was part of a deal that Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, struck with UW officials to curtail DEI positions in exchange for additional resources.

See the release.

— Wisconsin businesses impacted by this year’s relatively mild winter may be eligible for federal disaster loan funding, state officials announced.

Statewide snowfall was between 20 and 30 inches below normal this winter, according to yesterday’s announcement from the guv’s office. That climbs to up to 70 inches below normal for the “Lake Superior snowbelt,” covering Ashland, Iron and Vilas counties.

Travel and recreation businesses that rely on snow for skiing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling have been affected by this trend.

Following outreach by Evers and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the U.S. SBA has confirmed it will consider business losses related to low snowfall related to drought and therefore eligible for federal help, according to the release.

See the release.

— Wisconsin has been named the No. 1 state in the country for public golf by Golf Digest.

The New York-based publication notes Wisconsin has “excellent public-access courses” but few “elite private clubs” compared to many other states.

The rankings point to Sheboygan’s Whistling Straits as a standout course, which has hosted a number of high-profile competitions including the 2021 Ryder Cup. The article also spotlights Erin Hills Golf Course in Hartford and Sand Valley Golf Resort in Nekoosa.

See the rankings.

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