Thanks to a pioneering partnership between us, the Dutch Heart Foundation (DHF) and the German Cardiovascular Research Center, leading researchers from Germany, the Netherlands and the UK are joining forces to help detect heart and circulatory diseases. driving breakthrough advances in diagnosis, treatment, and diagnosis. (DZHK).

Collectively, we have awarded over €5.2 million (approximately £4.7 million) to four international teams over the next four years. This is his fifth award under this partnership, and the second year is specifically aimed at supporting mid-career researchers in her three countries. This funding will enable researchers to exchange knowledge, expertise and resources to address some of the most pressing questions in cardiovascular science. The award also helps researchers become future leaders in their research fields.

“Progress comes from collaboration”

Professor Metin Avkiran, our Associate Medical Director, said:

“We are delighted to be working with our European partners to fund these four ambitious projects, building on the success of the awards we have funded together over the past five years. By empowering talented people to come together and collaborate on urgent problems, we ensure that donations from our generous supporters go further to advance life-saving research.

“Scientific progress grows through international collaboration. Through this funding, we can strengthen collaborations between future research leaders and reap rewards long after these projects end.” .”

The four new projects funded through the International Cardiovascular Research Partnership Awards are:

BI-PATH: Using the placenta to understand heart and circulatory disease risks

Principal researcher: Professor Abigail Fraser, University of Bristol. Dr. Casper Mihl, Maastricht Cardiovascular Institute (CARIM), Maastricht University Medical Center

Women who develop high blood pressure or preeclampsia during pregnancy are at increased risk of developing heart and circulatory disease later in life. Researchers have found that many women who experience these complications have signs of maternal vascular malperfusion (MVM) in their placentas. MVM is caused when the arteries in the uterus do not undergo the necessary changes to ensure an adequate blood supply to the placenta and baby.

In this study, researchers use data from British and Dutch studies that followed women throughout their pregnancy and over many years. They will examine placentas to identify those that show signs of MVM and will investigate whether this is associated with the development of heart and circulatory disease in the coming years. The researchers hope this will be an easy way to identify women who may be at risk early so they can receive preventive treatment and monitoring.

HeartDisc: Understanding the role of myocardial fibers in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Principal Investigator: Dr Katja Gehmlich, University of Birmingham. Dr. Claudia Crosini, Charité – Faculty of Medicine, University of Berlin. Dr. Diederik Kuster, Amsterdam UMC

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic disorder in which the muscular walls of the heart thicken and become stiff, making it difficult for the heart to pump blood. Researchers found changes in a structure called the ‘Z-disk’ that forms part of the heart muscle fibers in patients with HCM. They believe that the Z-disc plays an important role in regulating myocardial contraction.

The research team used several approaches, including slices of myocardium from HCM patients, myocardium grown from stem cells, and mouse models of HCM, to understand how the Z-disk senses and responds to abnormal myocardial contraction. , we also plan to investigate how this leads to other changes. Found in diseased heart muscle cells. They plan to use what they learn to research drugs that could reverse the Z-disc changes in HCM and serve as a possible treatment.

Treat-ATHERO: Unleashing the potential of immune cells to fight atherosclerosis

Principal Investigator: Dr. Tian Zhao, University of Cambridge, Royal Papworth Hospital.Dr. Amanda Fox, Leiden University

Scientists know that the immune system overreacts to atherosclerosis, causing inflammation and plaque growth within the arteries. However, there is no treatment that can reduce this inflammation.

Researchers hope to better understand the effects of an anti-inflammatory drug called interleukin-2, which has already shown promise in early trials in heart attack patients. . In this study, the team will study fatty plaques removed during surgery. Some patients are given a low dose of interleukin-2 before surgery, and others are given a placebo (dummy) drug. Researchers will then analyze the plaques to see how the treatment affects immune cells within the plaques.

Using mice with atherosclerosis, we will also elucidate the molecular pathways that increase and maintain anti-inflammatory activity within fatty plaques, improving our understanding of how treatments work. Finally, they plan to test a cutting-edge version of the drug designed to target immune cells within fatty plaques. By testing this in plaques from mice and human patients with atherosclerosis, researchers will determine whether this can help reduce inflammation and slow or even stop the progression of atherosclerosis. I’m thinking of doing it.

Shift-DCM: Decoding dilated cardiomyopathy

Principal Investigator: Dr. Joseph Burgoyne, King’s College London. Dr. Lukas Ciganek of UMC Göttingen. Dr. Monika Gracca, Amsterdam UMC

In dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), the muscular walls of the heart stretch, becoming thinner and weaker. Although there are treatments available to manage the symptoms of DCM, no treatment can stop it from worsening.

The project will use human heart muscle cells grown from stem cells and mice treated with DCM to examine how the defective gene that causes DCM impairs heart muscle cell function. Researchers want to understand how this affects the body’s ability to cope with damage that can occur when certain molecules naturally produced are out of balance.

The team will then apply their findings to study different ways to restore balance to the heart muscle. These include molecular switches that can turn gene expression on or off, as well as innovative gene editing techniques that rewrite individual letters of DNA to protect against DCM. The research team hopes that these approaches will lead to new treatments that can slow the progression of DCM or even stop it from developing in the first place.

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