Therapeutic targets in atherosclerosis

Miguel Ángel del Pozo Barriuso

Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), España

Atherosclerosis (accumulation of cholesterol and inflammation of the arterial walls) is the leading cause of death worldwide. It restricts blood flow and causes myocardial and cerebral infarctions due to the deprivation of blood and oxygen to the tissues. Most of these risk factors (high fat diet, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, ageing, or sedentary lifestyle) act on the body as a whole. However, these accumulations develop in places where blood flow is irregular (e.g. arterial bifurcations), causing inflammation and making the vessel susceptible to other risk factors, fostering the development of atherosclerosis. Current therapies (anti-inflammatory medication, cholesterol reduction) slow down progression of the disease but do not reverse it. We need to understand how the different mechanisms cooperate to maintain its progression, including when one specific factor is eliminated.

AtheroConvergencia is a singular initiative which combines multidisciplinary experience and the latest technologies to find a comprehensive understanding of the disease. Its goal is to identify new opportunities for precision medicine to intervene advanced atherosclerosis and find new predictive genetic markers of the potential risk of developing atherosclerosis.

• Martin A. Schwartz, Yale University, New Haven, CT EEUU

• Jacob Fog Bentzon, Aarhus University, Dinamarca

• Jesús Ruiz-Cabello, Asociación Centro de Investigación Cooperativa en Biomateriales, España

Flow-driven inflammation and arterial wall remodeling in atherosclerosis: mechanisms and therapeutic potential (AtheroConvergence)

999.988€