WASHINGTON — California scientists are hunting for ways to predict who is about to have a heart attack, and they say they’ve found a key clue.
Most heart attacks happen when fatty deposits in an artery burst open and a blood clot forms over the damage, blocking blood flow. Tests can’t tell when that’s about to happen.
But Wednesday, researchers at Scripps Translational Science Institute report they found deformed cells floating in the blood of 50 people who’d just had a heart attack, cells that had flaked off the lining of arteries. The study couldn’t determine how early those cells appear before a heart attack. To start finding out, the researchers developed a blood test they plan to study in people with chest pain.
“This study is pretty exciting,” said Dr. Douglas Zipes of Indiana University and past president of the American College of Cardiology. It suggests those cells are harmed “not just in the minutes prior” to a heart attack, he said, “but probably hours, maybe even days” earlier.
The study appears in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The Associated Press
