Type-2 diabetes (T2D) is a chronic condition generating enormous healthcare costs. To make things worse, prevalence of T2D is increasing at an alarming rate worldwide.
T2D is caused by peripheral insulin resistance (IR) and is associated with cardiovascular diseases and myocardial infarction (MI) in particular.
Myocardial infarction triggers a sterile, innate inflammatory response essential for successful tissue repair and remodelling. Macrophages are innate inflammatory cells that play a strategic role by tightly controlling inflammation and orchestrating the remodelling of the infarcted heart through the secretion of immunomodulatory cytokines and by clearing the injured cardiac tissue from dead cells through a process called efferocytosis.
In chronic inflammatory diseases such as Type-2 Diabetes (T2D), the immunomodulatory role of macrophages is impaired, leading to unchecked, chronic inflammation driving adverse tissue remodelling and the development of heart failure. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the immunomodulatory function of macrophages and how they are affected during insulin resistance remains completely unknown.
The objectives of the REMAKIN project are designed to improve our understanding on two critical points: how macrophages modulate inflammation in the infarcted heart and how T2D affects it.