FIB-AGE · Untangling fibroblast plasticity in vascular ageing

Untangling fibroblast plasticity in vascular ageing

Everyone wants to grow old, but no one wants to feel old. In fact, age is the most important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, such as a heart attack or stroke. Yet there is no effective treatment to prevent age-associated changes leading to cardiovascular disease. The wall of a blood vessel consists of three layers. The inner two layers protect against clotting, accumulation of inflammatory cells, and help regulate blood pressure. The contribution of cells in the outer perivascular layer is still unknown. However, it is known that flexible blood vessels are essential for proper regulation of blood pressure and the proper functioning of the heart and organs. Aging is accompanied by the accumulation of connective tissue in the vessels, which leads to stiffness of the blood vessels. These stiff blood vessels are a significant cause of high blood pressure and the development of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. This is particularly important now as people in our Western world are living longer but also want to experience it in good health. Current treatments are mainly aimed at the function of the two inner layers of the vessel wall and cannot prevent all heart attacks or strokes. We proposed that connective-tissue producing cells in the outer, perivascular cell layer play a causal role in vascular ageing. Therefore, we used advanced technology and identified new gene markers for these perivascular cells. We use modern technology to study changes in individual cells. With older technology, differences could not be observed because a large mix of whole tissues and all cell types was used. This is similar to a smoothie where the individual fruits cannot be seen anymore. This preliminary work demonstrates that there is indeed an increase in a specific group of connective tissue-producing cells during aging. This has led to the hypothesis that we will now investigate: Reprogramming the function of perivascular cells can reduce damage caused by vascular aging. We will study perivascular cell function in vivo, in vitro and in interventional studies ex vivo, in so far unimaginable detail. By sophisticated integration of this obtained data, we aim to identify key players promoting vascular ageing and dysfunction and suggest first interventional targets for future therapy to keep our vessels healthy for longer.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз