RegeneRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: RGRX) ("the Company" or "RegeneRx") has announced that researchers have shown that Tβ4 has more extensive beneficial effects on the myocardium after heart attack than previously reported. The research team also confirmed previous reports that Tβ4 activates the Akt survival kinase and protects cardiac muscle cells from apoptosis (programmed cell death), that the infarct sizes were smaller and cardiac function significantly improved in mice receiving Tβ4, and that Tβ4-treated mice had a significant reduction in cardiac fibrosis (scarring) due to the reduction of collagen expression.
For the first time in a myocardial infarction model, researchers showed that Tβ4 suppresses NF-κB, a protein complex that regulates the expression of inflammatory molecules that cause damage during and after a heart attack. Previously published research showed that Tβ4 suppresses NF-κB after damage in the eye.
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