Slobodan Vukicevic, a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (HAZU), and his associates have discovered a new therapy for acute myocardial infarction and published an article about it in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Communications, HAZU announced in a statement on Wednesday.

The research on the prevention of fibrosis in a model of acute myocardial infarction was carried out at the Laboratory for Mineralised Tissues of the University of Zagreb School of Medicine and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Trieste, Italy.

The results have shown the therapeutic effect of BMP1.3 antibodies in preventing cardiomyocyte apoptosis, reducing the formation of scar tissue and preserving the cardiac function after myocardial infarction in rodents.

Acute myocardial infarction is one of the most common causes of death today, and none of the therapies proposed so far is based on the use of antibodies. The starting point for the research was the discovery of an elevated level of BMP1.3 antibodies in the blood of patients who have suffered myocardial infarction, the statement said.

The article was chosen among the 50 best articles published in Nature Communications in the last 24 months.