CONTEXT OF THE PROJECT
Cardiovascular diseases and, more specifically, acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are still the most frequent causes of morbidity, disability and mortality in Europe and worldwide, despite the important diagnostic and treatment advancements that are currently available. ACS includes some subtypes with different severity: ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and unstable angina pectoris (UAP). The individual risk assessment for ACS and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), leading to the implementation of primary prevention strategies, and for ACS secondary prevention, after the first ACS event already occurred, are currently based on useful, but not very accurate algorithms, which are not properly designed to fully assess the individual risk. These discrepancies between current clinical practices in ACS management and real-life situations underline the need for better characterization of STEMI, NSTEMI and UAP features and new, more comprehensive and ground-breaking approaches that will lead to novel paradigms in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of ACS and MACE.
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
Based on the above-reported considerations, the CardioSCOPE project has the general objective of better understanding the clinical and molecular features of ACS subtypes, taking advantage of the evaluation of both traditional and innovative biomarkers and their integration by artificial intelligence/machine learning approaches.
The specific objectives are:
1. to discover novel pathological factors for ACS and MACE by applying innovative technologies (systems biology approach, multiomics analysis)
2. to develop multimarker models for better diagnosis of ACS and prognosis of MACE by data integration with artificial intelligence and machine learning
3. to validate the developed multimarker models on independent patient populations
4. to develop useful standard operative procedures for measuring and evaluating ACS markers in clinical practice
5. to build young scientists competent for using novel technologies for ACS risk assessment, also in everyday clinical practice
6. to disseminate the ideas and results of the CardioSCOPE project to the society, aiming to promote health benefits for citizens.
PROJECT PATHWAY TO IMPACT
To achieve these results, the CardioSCOPE project consortium brings together experts from world-class institutions gathered (from 6 countries: 7 academic, 3 companies, 2 hospitals) throughout Europe to exchange and expand their expertise on interdisciplinary approaches, to enhance the Research and Innovation capacity of Europe in the field of cardiovascular diseases. CardioSCOPE studies well-defined ACS patient populations to discover and validate novel markers (by transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic analyses) specific for ACS, to be combined with classical clinical data in multimarker models by machine learning/artificial intelligence algorithms, thus enabling more accurate ACS diagnosis and MACE prediction.
This excellent research network aims at building young scientists competent for the upcoming research technologies by training and knowledge transfer. Specific research skills not available at home institutions are acquired through individually designed secondment plans, training schools, webinars and short-term courses. Intersectoral activities improve entrepreneurial skills of consortium staff and facilitate transformation of scientific breakthroughs into commercially available products and services. This research, training and formation activities accurately take into consideration an appropriate gender balance.
In summary, the results of this project transcend the scientific interests of CardioSCOPE partners to enable a transfer of knowledge into a multidisciplinary environment and achieving significant impact on ACS management and policies in Europe. The results obtained by the CardioSCOPE project contribute to substantially improve primary and secondary prevention of ACS in its different types, according to the specific individual risk, thus implementing a precision medicine approach.
