Endothelial Cell Metabolism In Health And Aging

Endothelial cells (ECs) line blood vessels to supply nutrients, oxygen and growth factors to tissue. Therefore, ECs are of crucial importance for normal health and consequently, dysfunctional endothelium promotes more disease than any other tissue in our body. This is especially the case during aging, where increased morbidity and mortality is associated with age-related diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases (stroke, myocardial infraction or tissue ischemia). As the elderly population is increasing rapidly, these diseases become a huge burden on society worldwide. Recently, the host lab has shown that ECs adapt their metabolism to form new vessels (a process called angiogenesis), and that targeting EC metabolism can inhibit pathological angiogenesis - thus establishing the importance of EC metabolism and highlighting the therapeutic potential of targeting EC metabolism. However, the underlying metabolic maladaptive changes in diseased ECs in general and aged ECs in particular remain poorly studied. Measurements of key metabolic pathways and a comprehensive, systematic profiling of EC metabolism has never been done in aged ECs. Using multidisciplinary state-of-the-art techniques, I will globally profile metabolism of aged EC, aiming to identify maladapted metabolic pathways in aged ECs. I will also analyze the functional implications of a selected number of identified metabolic targets in vitro, which potentially promise to generate novel therapeutic targets.

Jaar van publicatie:2020

Toegankelijkheid:Embargoed