A006 – Cardiovascular

Research objectives

The general objective of the Inflammation Area consists of the search for new therapeutic targets and the improvement of clinical-therapeutic management.

• Study of the effects of adipokines and metabolic hormones in the regulation of viability, metabolism and autophagic processes in human and murine cardiomyocytes in vivo and in vitro.
• Study of the relationship between cardiac and plasma levels of adipokines and metabolic hormones, body composition and markers of risk and prognosis in cardiovascular pathologies in patients with cardiovascular risk (metabolic syndrome) and in patients with established cardiovascular disease (heart failure), with the in order to contribute to establishing the validity of adipokines and metabolic hormones as new biomarkers in both metabolic syndrome and established cardiovascular disease.
• Study of adipokines as new potential biomarkers of disease and response to treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
• Usefulness of pleural fluid analysis in the diagnosis of pleural effusions. To study the effects of adipokines on specific transcription factors and autophagy regulation mechanisms.
• Identification and characterization of new adipokines in cells of the musculoskeletal system (cartilage, synovium, muscle, bone, periarticular adipose tissue).
• Application of chest ultrasound to identify a trapped lung prior to chest drainage.
• Study of the effect of drugs used in Cardiovascular and Nutraceutical Medicine at the cardiomyocyte level.
• Study of the pharmacological effects of micronutrients in the polyphenolic fraction of extra virgin olive oil.
• Search for parameters (clinical and/or biological) that identify types of response by the pleura.
• Study of the physiopathogenic mechanisms of rheumatic diseases (Rheumatoid Arthritis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Osteoporosis).
• Identification and validation of new therapeutic targets in Rheumatoid Arthritis.
• Identification and validation of biomarkers of response to treatment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
• Identification and characterization of genetic factors of susceptibility to osteoarthritis.
• Characterization of genetic factors of susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus and its relationship with clinical symptoms, as well as its variability in the European population.
• Interaction between the immune system and the musculoskeletal system: Role of adipokines in the modulation of regulatory T cells (Treg) and other lymphocyte subpopulations.

Research groups