Together, the four funding organizations are providing more than 5 million euros for three international research projects as part of the International Cardiovascular Research Partnership Awards (ICRPA). The funded teams, two of which involve DZHK participation, are addressing the following questions:
- Can a new gene therapy repair disturbance in the heart’s electrical conduction system in heart failure?
- What genetic and biological mechanisms underlie a heart disease that primarily affects middle-aged women?
- How can individuals with a rare inherited heart rhythm disorder be identified at an early stage and treated more effectively?
The partnership has existed for six years – with this funding round, which for the first time includes the Lefoulon-Delalande Foundation, the total number of supported projects increases to 19.
These are the projects with German participation
Normalising Ventricular Conduction in Heart Failure by Gene Therapies (CONDUCTION-GTx)
Principal investigators:
Alicia D’Souza (Imperial College London)
Constanze Schmidt (Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg)
Gerard Boink (Amsterdam University Medical Center)
Jason Bayer (Universität Bordeaux)
It's estimated that over 15 million people in Europe are living with heart failure. In some people, the heart’s electrical wiring system can become damaged. This affects the heart’s ability to beat and pump blood around the body effectively. People with heart failure might be fitted with a pacemaker to try to regulate their heartbeat, but this doesn’t work for everyone.
In this study, researchers will investigate whether gene therapy could help to correct the underlying issue with the heart’s electrical wiring system. The team’s earlier work suggests that this is a safe and effective way to improve heart function. Now, they will study the gene therapy in mice and pigs with heart failure to see how it affects the behaviour of heart cells and improves their overall health.
Using computer models, the team will test how the gene therapies will work in heart failure patients. They will also study samples of human heart tissue to uncover more about what causes the heart’s electrical system to become faulty and how gene therapy could repair it. Ultimately, this work could lead to a new treatment that restores heart function and improves survival for people living with heart failure.
ID-SCAD: Identifying molecular drivers to understand and treat spontaneous coronary artery dissection
Principal investigators:
Nabila Bouatia-Naji (INSERM, Frankreich)
Linda W. van Laake (Universitätsklinikum Utrecht)
Thorsten Kessler (Technische Universität München)
Cardiovascular disease in women is a recognized area of unmet research need. Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a distinct cause of myocardial infarction, predominantly affecting young women, who represent 90% of the cases. Although less common than atherosclerotic myocardial infarction, SCAD is estimated to account for up to 35% of heart attacks in women under 60 and is also a leading cause of postpartum myocardial infarction. SCAD is a medical emergency that occurs when a tear develops in the wall of a coronary artery.
Evidence from the team’s earlier genetic studies suggests that SCAD has a highly polygenic nature, which remains only partially understood, with a significant role played by genes related to vascular smooth muscle cell (VMSC) biology.
In this study, researchers will investigate how dysregulated VSMC plasticity contributes to SCAD. They will also examine the impact of sex-specific factors, such as sex chromosomes and sex hormone signaling, on gene expression and VSMC function.
