“Cholesterol under control, blood pressure ok, weight and movement regular. Yet he had a heart attack.” How often do you hear this sentence. Unfortunately, even those at low risk can suffer from cardiac ischemia. And there are still no reliable tools to define the level of danger, which go beyond the classic factors that are always recommended to control: cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, overweight, low physical activity and smoking. But a study published on Circulation conducted by the University of Connecticut scholars focuses attention on a parameter that should be considered more carefully, i macrophages, or particular white blood cells. These cells work in practice as real garbage collectors. If they find fatty structures on the wall of the arteries they tend to incorporate them to eliminate them, but they are filled with droplets of fat that make them foamy, more or less like the bubbles that form on the head after we have done a shampoo. The macrophages that have these characteristics can then settle on the inflamed plaques of the arteries and therefore facilitate the onset of a blockage to the circulation, at least in some circumstances. The study, coordinated by the immunologist, focused on this aspect Beiyan Zhoucoming to recognize a “foam” that does not create any problems unlike another, always determined by the “greedy” macrophages of fat, which instead accelerates the plaque formation process.
The risk of clots
This second type of “baby food” made up of macrophages rich in lipids appears particularly dangerous because it correlates with inflammation and can facilitate not only the formation of clots inside the vessels, but also of emboli that travel along the cardiovascular system. Thanks to this observation, by studying population data from MESA research that retain not only information on the occurrence of heart disease but also on the specific populations of white blood cells and genetics of the people involved, the experts have developed a test that includes the analysis of 30 different macrophage-related genes and their ability to foam “good” or bad.
Heart door
So we reprogrammed the part of the heart that was damaged by the heart attack
at Federico Mereta
By combining the information deriving from this test with that of the classic risk factors, a model has been built that in the future could allow us to define more precisely who is most at risk of developing a heart attack, even in the presence of acceptable levels of cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar or body weight. “The study is very interesting, because it identifies a gene” signature “in monocytes (peripheral blood cells, therefore easily accessible) that is associated with inflammatory” foamy “macrophages in atherosclerotic plaques – explains Gualtiero Colomboin charge of‘Research Unit of Immunology and Functional Genomics of the Monzino Cardiology Center.
Predict angina and heart attack
In perspective, by doing a blood test it could be known whether macrophages are present in the plaque that make the vascular disease progress until it becomes symptomatic (and therefore to determine angina and / or heart attack) “. That” foamy “macrophages were present in the plaques and participate in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis has long been known. “The novelty is that we can now recognize the pathogenic ones with a simple blood sample and that that” signature “, added to other known factors, helps to predict the risk of developing heart attack – resumes the expert. It is a concept and a line of research that we are also developing here at Monzino, coupling the data obtained from a cardiac CT scan with genetic tests on peripheral blood “.
Heart door
Making the plaques of atherosclerosis disappear: a dream that could come true
at Federico Mereta
