New risk factors of atherosclerosis

Valentí Fuster

Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), Spain

Atherosclerosis is a cardiovascular disease that is characterized by the hardening of the arteries and the accumulation of fat, cholesterol and other substances that make difficult and can even obstruct blood flow.

Risk factors have been identified that predispose the development of atherosclerosis and associated diseases (myocardial and cerebral infarction), the main cause of mortality and disability in our societies. Normally, during decades, atherosclerosis does not cause symptoms and there are people with a low cardiovascular risk who may present this disease. So it is to be suspected that cardiovascular risk factors exist that have not yet been identified.

Recently scientists have described non-inherited genetic mutations, present in blood cells, that seem to double the risk of heart and brain vascular accidents. The aim of the project is to investigate more deeply the possible relationship between atherosclerosis and these mutations, which are often associated with aging.

The project hopes to identify new risk factors to better recognize people with a high cardiovascular risk in the early stages of the disease, when clinical signs have not appeared yet, using the DNA sequencing in blood samples of middle-aged people without any obvious cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, the project will identify mechanisms by which mutations acquired during aging will increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. All this aims to help promote cardiovascular health, a clear challenge in our increasingly aging societies.

Stephen S. Rich, University of Virginia (UVA), USA

Somatic mutation-driven clonal hematopoiesis in aterosclerosis – international consortium

€999,896