Project description
New treatment thoracic aortic aneurysms
Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAAs) are a serious health concern, often leading to life-threatening complications like dissection or rupture. Current surgery helps, but they come with risks, and drugs only offer temporary relief. Additionally, the way treatments work in mice does not always translate to humans, making progress slow. With this in mind, the ERC-funded BREAK-OUT project aims to address these issues by studying TAA genetics and using advanced models to develop better therapies. Moreover, it is pioneering new ways, like patient-derived ‘aorta-on-a-chip’ models, to speed up the process from lab to clinic. This promises a leap forward in translational medicine. Overall, the project aims to prevent or even reverse the progression of this deadly condition.
Objective
Thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) entails a high risk for aortic dissection and rupture, which is a prominent cause of death in Western countries. Prophylactic surgery significantly reduces the mortality risk, but complications are relatively common. Moreover, in severe TAA conditions aneurysms often develop at other locations afterwards, exposing patients to repeated surgeries and, thus, threats. Current drug options only modestly slow down dilatation, without preventing dissections or ruptures. Clearly, a game changer in TAA patient management would be the availability of medical therapies capable of stopping or reversing aneurysm formation. Functional characterization of the known TAA genes, especially those that are linked to syndromic TAA, in relevant cell and/or mouse models has already delivered valuable insights into the disease mechanisms, prompting pre-clinical drug testing in mice. The mechanistic picture is incomplete though, encumbering the development of additional, and especially more effective, therapies. Another prevailing issue is the inefficient and/or unsuccessful translation of pharmacological mouse results to the clinic. Few compounds make it to clinical trials due to the high costs, lengthy time frames and difficulties as to patient recruitment. Additionally, while TAA mouse models allow us to study and therapeutically target disease in an in vivo setting, efficiency of ensuing compounds might not be recapitulated in humans. Building on intriguing preliminary data and the unique availability of mutant/control Fbn1 and Ipo8 mice and human induced pluripotent stem cells, this project aims to contribute to the resolution of these issues by further unravelling and therapeutically targeting the mechanisms underlying syndromic TAA. Additionally, BREAK-OUT will provide proof-of-concept that patient-derived aorta-on-a-chip models can be used for pre-clinical TAA research.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology demography mortality
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine angiology vascular diseases
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine surgery
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2000 Antwerpen
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.