Preventing blood vessel damage from cancer treatment
Aetiology
The aim of this project was to establish the mechanism by which xrays and anticancer drugs cause damage to endothelial cells, the cells that line blood vessels.
Damage to these cells can ultimately lead to cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks. The team hypothesised that an enzyme, JNK, found inside the endothelial cells was potentially responsible for mediating the cell death caused by the anti cancer drugs.
This project therefore focused on whether inhibiting JNK could prevent the cells from dying. A range of approaches, including genetic editing, were attempted to inhibit the JNK were unsuccessful.
However, the use of an adenovirus as a carrier was successful in helping the endothelial cells to better tolerate the anti cancer drugs. This was not a fully successful strategy but it does represent an improvement. This data acts as a proof of concept for future projects in which the concept can be explored further.
This project was heavily impacted by the pandemic and there are some delays for publications/conferences however the team does intend to make future grant applications for the development of this work.
The development of a new AI-supported model for imaging the heart based on data from over 700 people with atrial fibrillation, allow ablation to be more personalised to individual patients.
Personalised angina care
Bringing together patients and medical professionals to establish a partnership aimed at identifying areas of priority in adult cardiac surgery, to better inform clinicians and make heart surgery safer for patients.
Developing an AI-assisted computer programme to identify whether a conduction system pacing (CSP) procedure has been successful, which will allow more patients to benefit from this innovative pacemaker technology.
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