2024-09-13 00:10:00
An advance allows us to detect atherosclerosis at an early stage and improve current therapies.
Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease of the artery wall, leading to the accumulation of fat, cholesterol, immune cells and dead cells in their walls. These deposits, called plaques, can be unstable the more inflammatory they are and rupture at any time, forming thrombi that cause serious cardiovascular complications, such as heart attack or stroke, or vascular dementia, important causes of morbidity and mortality. Detection is performed in patients with high cholesterol levels and cardiovascular risk, but its predictive value is low and detection of the disease requires complex and expensive advanced imaging studies. It is essential to find new biomarkers that allow the disease to be identified through simple processes, such as a blood test, before it progresses and to be able to carry out early treatments that prevent the formation of an unstable plaque.
The group led by David Sancho, researcher at the Carlos III National Cardiovascular Research Center (CNIC), leads a project, in consortium with the Kaertor Foundation, that explores possible molecules produced by the microbiota that could influence the progression of atherosclerosis. In previous studies in an animal model, the team identified a molecule produced by the microbiota that can serve as an early biomarker of atherosclerosis. Furthermore, this metabolite is not only associated with the disease, but there is a cause-effect relationship and contributes to the progression of the disease.
“Our project proposes the validation of this microbiota metabolite identified as a marker of early atherosclerosis in independent cohorts. Furthermore, we found an association with inflammatory plaque, so we want to explore whether it also predicts plaque instability and, therefore, future cardiovascular events,” says Sancho. “The research could lead to new diagnostic tools for atherosclerosis and support new strategies and better therapies for the disease,” he concludes. JGS. SJD
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