A team of researchers at the Stanford University said they have found a solution to repair the cellular damage caused by heart attacks. They said the solution is a 'protein patch' that could help in regeneration of cells.

Senior study author Dr. Pilar Ruiz-Lozano, associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford University, said in a statement that the find has opened the door to a completely new level of revolutionary treatment.

There is no such treatment that can help the cells damaged due to heart attacks to repair, she said.

The study published online on Wednesday in the journal nature, found that the protein Fstl1 played a key role in regenerating dead heart muscle cells in pigs and mice.

Ruiz-Lozano and her colleagues working on with the protein they recently identify said that a clinical trial involving the same therapy could begin as early as 2017.

The team said they identified that protein by drawing from previous studies of zebra fish which showed that epicardium, the inner layer of the pericardium that covers the heart, played a vital role in the healing process after a heart attack.

The team noted that in zebra fish, Fstl1, a protein secreted by the epicardium, contributed to the growth of cardiomyocytes, which are cardiac muscle cells.

Furthermore in order to see how animals that suffered a heart attack would respond to the protein, they loaded a bioengineered patch with the protein and reintroduced it to the pigs and mice's damaged tissue.

According to the news release, heart muscle cells repaired in the animals within two to four weeks after they received the patch. Now after the success on animals the study researcher aims to test the patch on humans.