Objective
Up to 70% of cardiovascular events are not prevented by current therapeutic regimens. In search for additional, innovative strategies, immune cells have been recognized as key players contributing to atherosclerotic plaque progression and destabilization. Particularly the role of innate immune cells is of major interest, following the recent paradigm shift that innate immunity, considered to be incapable of learning ability, does exhibit a memory feature transduced via epigenetic modulation. Compelling evidence shows that atherosclerotic factors promote immune cell migration by pre-activation of innate immune cells. In this project called REPROGRAM, we aim to prove that innate immune cell activation via epigenetic reprogramming perpetuates the upheld systemic inflammatory state in cardiovascular disease which is common in other chronic inflammatory diseases. This opens a new therapeutic area in which epigenetic modulation of innate immune cells effectively decreases systemic inflammation impacting on chronic inflammation as well as the development of co-morbidities. The integrated use of in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo studies, including cells, mice and patients, allows translation from in vitro mechanisms to diseases (molecule-to-man) and extrapolation to cohorts (man-to-mass), enabling us to demonstrate relevance and therapeutic potential of targeting trained immunity in cardiovascular and chronic inflammatory diseases. Enforced by the promising data in oncology, the future prospects for epigenetic interventions in cardiovascular and chronic inflammatory diseases are eminent, attested by the large residual cardiovascular disease burden and the huge societal impact of other chronic inflammatory diseases. The REPROGRAM consortium consisting of key opinion leaders in the field of cardiovascular (systems) biology, immunology, epigenetic therapies and rheumatoid arthritis, with a large intersectoral network, guarantees rapid translation of early mechanistic discoveries
Fields of science
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
H2020-PHC-2015-two-stage
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
1105AZ Amsterdam
Netherlands
Participants (10)
6525 XZ Nijmegen
80539 Muenchen
3400 Hillerod
400012 Cluj-napoca
20122 Milano
8006 Zurich
02114 Boston Ma
95 050 Konstantynow Lodzki
92284 Courbevoie
3645WG Vinkeveen