The discovery comes from studying patients treated with left ventricular assist devices, or LVADs, which are mechanical pumps that reduce strain on the heart and allow it to rest and recover.

While these devices can stabilize patients with advanced heart failure, only a subset experience meaningful recovery, and the biological reasons have remained unclear.

In a study in the Journal of the American Heart Association, cardiovascular molecular researcher Junco Warren of Virginia Tech and cardiologist Stavros Drakos of University of Utah Health found that a protein called PERM1 is fully restored in patients whose hearts recover after LVAD support. Patients who did not recover showed no such restoration.

The study brought together scientists at Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and clinical collaborators at the University of Utah Health, combining molecular research with patient-based cardiac care.