Plasmapheresis can help heart attack (myocardial infarction) patients

Myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack, is the leading cause of death worldwide. It occurs when blood does not reach the heart cells properly, and they die of starvation. Without a functioning heart, the patient dies. Thus, it is extremely important to find new therapies and improve existing ones to treat it.

Plasmapheresis is an existing therapy in which a component of the blood called plasma is taken out and replaced with intravenous fluids, typically saline. This new and “fixed” blood is then reintroduced into the patient. Plasmapheresis is currently used in the Philippines and other parts of the world to treat several diseases in which the plasma component of the blood is affected. These diseases typically involve some sort of autoimmune condition and are not closely related to myocardial infarction. In fact, plasmapheresis is not currently used in myocardial infarction patients, as it does not help the blood reach the heart cells any better.

The published article is a review of existing research on the topic of myocardial infarction and whether plasmapheresis could be used to improve its outcome. We have read the experiments performed by many other researchers and reached important conclusions not evident from one study on its own.

After looking into the existing knowledge of how plasmapheresis works, combined with data from many clinical trials for other diseases, we make a strong case that plasmapheresis can also help myocardial infarction patients. When heart cells die, they release emergency signals into the plasma to alert the body that something is wrong and allow it to react. But because it is a life-or-death situation, the body usually overcompensates and hurts the heart further in its attempt to fix it.

Thus, if we eliminate some of these emergency signals, called cytokines, from plasma using plasmapheresis, we could reduce the body’s excessive reaction and improve the recovery of myocardial infarction patients. Even if the improvement is small, considering the disproportionate number of people affected by and dying of myocardial infarction, the cumulative outcome is still substantial. This paper lays the theoretical groundwork for this possibly new therapeutic approach grounded in current knowledge and existing data from medical trials.

Authors: Joana Marie C. Cruz (Department of Bioengineering and QB3 Institute, University of California, Berkeley |College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila), Javier Lozano-Gerona (Institute of Biology, College of Science, University of the Philippines Diliman), Al James A. Manua (Institute of Biology, College of Science, University of the Philippines Diliman), Mariel Lizbeth Joy S. Agsaoay (Institute of Biology, College of Science, University of the Philippines Diliman), Jana Victoria San Pedro (National Institutes of Health, University of the Philippines Manila), Irina M. Conboy (Department of Bioengineering and QB3 Institute, University of California, Berkeley), Ahmad Reza Mazahery (Institute of Biology, College of Science, University of the Philippines Diliman), and Jose B. Nevado (College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila | National Institutes of Health, University of the Philippines Manila)

Read the full paper: http://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/rej.2025.0015

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