Parasitic Therapeutics: Ghastly or Great For The Heart? - Victoria Ward (Transcript)

Here is the full transcript of Victoria Ward’s talk titled “Parasitic Therapeutics: Ghastly or Great For The Heart?” at TEDxGalway conference.

In this talk, biomaterial researcher Victoria Ward discusses her research on heart disease and introduces potential solutions for heart failure through parasitic therapeutics. She shares the devastating effects of heart attacks and their long-term consequences, including the death of heart cells, formation of scar tissue, and the subsequent weakening of the heart.

Ward proposes the use of hydrogels, like moon jellyfish, as a soft biomaterial that can mimic human heart tissue and prevent heart failure by avoiding the need for scarring. However, the potential immune response to hydrogels when injected directly into the heart raises concerns. Instead, Ward suggests using parasites, such as Shista Masai, to create novel biotherapeutic therapies

TRANSCRIPT:

Understanding Heart Disease and Innovative Solutions

Raise your hand if you know someone who has experienced or who lives with heart disease. Look around. There are lots of hands in the audience. One of which is my smiling mother.

She has a propionic heart. She, like many others, has been fitted with a defibrillator in order to keep her heart ticking strongly. To prevent beating dysregulation and a heart attack, which would otherwise follow. I’m not surprised by the response.

Heart disease causes the death of 18 million people every single year. So, with this staggering figure, as well as a loved one of mine potentially affected, it was only natural that I took up the research baton to choose heart disease for my PhD. And well, what is the solution? It’s the combining of a soft tissue support with a parasite therapy.

But more of that later. First of all, what is so brilliant and beautiful about hearts? Feel your own beat. Lub dub, lub dub.

The Unseen Struggle of Heart Disease

Constantly beating, supplying our head, shoulders, knees, and toes, as they say. Our heart is our biological engine. And for many of us who haven’t, and hopefully won’t, experience heart disease, we rarely spare them a second thought.

The reality is vastly different, however, for those people suffering from a heart attack. And when people think of a heart attack, they envision a scene of someone clutching their chest, perhaps experiencing shooting pains up and down their arm. But these symptoms only mark the start of a ticking time bomb journey. As what happens after is a cascade of nightmarish events, which stealthily and gradually damage the heart into disrepair and failure.

The Cascade of Heart Damage

The nightmare first starts when the blood vessels supplying the heart wall become blocked. The tissue downstream becomes starved of oxygen, which, after a matter of minutes, causes the cells within to eventually die. These now dying cells in this toxic tissue war zone send signals for help. And our body responds by deploying a cavalry of immune cells.

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Think of immune cells as the firefighter, medic, and police wardens of our body, which jump to action at the first sign of disturbance. The immune cells in the heart work tirelessly to repair the damage, but in doing so, leave spaces weak, vulnerable, void of cells, which eventually fill with scar tissue. Scar tissue is much different, however; it’s much stiffer. And this disturbs the synergy of the heart.

The Perils of Scar Tissue in the Heart

Having scar tissue is the equivalent of putting petrol into a diesel engine, which is harrowing on both accounts: the damage and the price of petrol today, 187. The heart has no choice but to carry on beating. And after weeks, months, and years, the accumulation of scar tissue and the death of cells leads to wall thinning and heart weakening.

This disrupts the blood flow, causing clinical heart failure. Heart failure means our head, shoulders, knees, and toes, and every other organ in between, also experiences critical damage due to the failing heart. Damage to the heart means damage to everything. Heart failure is often irreversible and results in death.

A New Hope: Biomaterials in Heart Disease Treatment

And this is the harsh and somber reality we face. Well, what is the solution? The answer lies in biomaterials. Current biomaterials are a range of functional devices, such as cochlear implants, stents, hip replacements; the list goes on.

A new generation of softer biomaterials, called hydrogels, has the ability to mechanically mimic and match human heart tissue. Hydrogel biomaterials can prevent people enduring that treacherous time ticking bomb journey from healthy to failing heart. So, what exactly are hydrogels? Let me paint you a picture.

The Role of Hydrogels and Hyaluronic Acid

Imagine the heights of summer in Galway Black Rock with thousands of moon jellyfish present on the shores. Now, imagine their soft, glistening, squishy heads. That is the texture of a hydrogel. Hydrogel, as in the name, are hydrated three-dimensional structures that have a remarkable capacity to swell, similar to our human tissue.

And while many materials can form hydrogels, hyaluronic acid holds great promise. Hyaluronic acid is a natural material found within our own body. It is currently being used as injection therapy for people with osteoarthritis. By reintroducing hyaluronic acid into areas of joint damage, it can help to absorb the sheer shocks, stresses, and forces associated with daily movement.

Bridging Biomaterials and Parasitology for Heart Repair

And this high success rate of hyaluronic acid in these mechanically demanding environments makes it extremely translatable for the heart. So, if we can inject hyaluronic acid hydrogels into these areas of vulnerability and damage, we can preserve heart function, prevent heart failure by strengthening the heart.

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However, despite the perfect mechanical hydrogel, the perfect hyaluronic acid, and the perfect injection site, soft tissue supports can still fail due to the immune response. Remember, the cavalry of immune cells are activated not just after a heart attack, but with any tissue disturbance.

So, our hydrogels could hypothetically be injected into the heart wall. However, without additional supports, the immune response would hinder and eventually reject the hydrogel.

And under these circumstances, this would only be heightening the problem, adding more fuel to the fire, more petrol to that diesel engine, instead of providing stabilization and a solution. This is where novel biotherapeutic therapies come into focus.

Unveiling the Unorthodox: Parasites as Medical Heroes

And what kind of therapeutics? Ones derived from parasites. Yes, you’ve heard correctly. Parasites. Small creatures of the animal kingdom, which are both pervasive yet evasive, revered by some in the audience tonight, and well disgusted by the rest of us. Parasites are creepy crawlies that use other organisms to survive.

And Schistosoma mansoni, while only standing at two centimeters tall, will start to keep you up at night and potentially make you itchy, as this parasite still infects 200 million people every single year. This parasite is difficult to detect and treat. And unfortunately, with severe infection, people do die, often with awful gastrointestinal-related diseases.

And while the cold, wet climate of Ireland shields us from this parasitic threat, countries in Africa and Asia lacking access to clean water sources face this infection frequently. So yes, this parasite is ghastly, but also highly intelligent at avoiding immune detection. And parasitologists have seen the biological importance of this parasite, and this is where our medical solution lies.

The Intelligence of Parasites in Medical Research

Parasitologists, in short, study things that make the rest of us shudder. They delve into the world of weird and infection. And I have had the pleasure of working with the parasitology team in the University of Galway, who has studied this parasite’s cunning life cycle. First of all, the parasite will find a slow-moving, desirable snail to use as a temporary house and taxi.

The snail will eventually encounter a water source, which it shares with humans. The parasite will take leave of that snail and find its way to our human skin. And at the skin, it will bury itself into our tissue layers. So after this first harrowing image of a parasite wiggling through you, now imagine it using your vessels as a subway system.

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In an undetected manner, this parasite will travel through your body, where it finds the liver. And at the liver, it will start to produce eggs. Now, this isn’t a nine-month incubation period we’re so used to, but in rapid succession of around 300 eggs daily. These eggs will then take their leave in an undetected manner from our body to begin another Tom and Jerry chasing life cycle of parasite finds snail finds human.

Leveraging Parasitic Abilities for Heart Health

So what incredible subversion skills does this parasite have to make it so successful across the generations? And how is this ghastly parasite the great hero of our hydrogel and heart story? Parasitologists once again provide the answer by changing our perception from infection source to medical solution. It has been discovered that the parasite releases secretions as it travels in an undetected manner through our body.

It is these secretions that have immune avoidance abilities, working past those firefighter, medic, and police wardens of our body. So let me put you this question. What if we combine a synthetically manufactured version of this parasite with the hydrogel? What do we think would happen?

Well, by injecting it into the heart, this natural release of the secretion will block those immune cells. Meaning the hydrogel can now be incorporated into the tissue instead of being rejected, eliminating the need for scarring. No more petrol in a diesel engine. So now after weeks, months, and years, the heart strengthens and heals instead of weakening.

The Future of Heart Disease Treatment: Hydrogel-Parasite Therapy

Using a hydrogel-parasite combined therapy within an optimal time window has the ability to prevent heart failure. So now we have a tongue twister of injectable hyaluronic acid hydrogels, which Schistosoma mansoni synthetically manufactured and biosynthesized therapies to support and save hearts will be the future of our biological engine. Try and say that without missing a beat. The medical joining of a hydrogel, a parasite, and the heart, while potentially unorthodox, has medical promise.

So please raise your hand if you now understand how devastating heart failure is, but how hard we are trying to find solutions to fix them.

Parasitic Therapeutics: Ghastly or Great For The Heart? – Victoria Ward (Transcript)