A cutting-edge cancer treatment can also cure certain kinds of heart failure in mice, scientists reported on Wednesday.

The treatment is a type of immunotherapy known as CAR-T, which has proved life-changing for some patients with blood cancers. CAR-T relies on engineered white blood cells — T cells — that seek out and destroy malignant cells in the body.

In the new study, published in the journal Nature, the technology was used to target scar tissue that stiffens the heart and prevents it from fully relaxing between beats in heart failure patients.

“It is potentially a breakthrough paper,” said Dr. Richard Lee, professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard who was not involved in the new study.