Vascular damage About theme

The mission of the theme Vascular damage is to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease by deciphering causes and consequences of vascular wall pathology.

The theme is centered around three lines of research:

  • Pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and its consequences
  • Pathogenesis of genetic, metabolic and endocrine causes of vascular damage
  • Personalized diagnostics and treatments of atherosclerosis and its consequences

  Objectives

  • We aim to unravel how traditional and novel cardiovascular risk factors induce a pro-atherogenic phenotype of these cells by performing in vitro and ex vivo studies on cells of the innate immune system.
  • We plan to develop and improve noninvasive vascular imaging techniques to detect vulnerable plaques and vascular inflammation.
  • We aim to develop and implement techniques to study inflammation and its impact on atherosclerosis in humans in vivo.
  • Using animal models, we aim to develop and validate biomarkers to study the impact of inflammation on progression of atherosclerosis in humans in vivo.
  • We aim to investigate the role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of the metabolic syndrome.
  • We plan to study the mechanisms by which inactivity results in cardiovascular injury and evaluate interventions to prevent or reverse this.
  • We want to improve diagnosis and treatment of the adrenal causes of hypertension and to explore mechanisms of vascular injury specifically related to these disorders.
  • We aim to explore the role of gender differences in atherogenesis.
  • We will study promising strategies to prevent ischemia-reperfusion injury, such as pharmacological and ischemic conditioning.
  • We will study how current cardiovascular guidelines can be implemented most effectively.
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Research Themes Vascular damage

Vascular damage About theme

The mission of the theme Vascular damage is to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease by deciphering causes and consequences of vascular wall pathology.

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Theme leader

prof. dr. Niels Riksen
full professor

+31 (0)24 361 8819
 contact

Lines of research

Pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and its consequences

We aim to unravel the role of the immune system in the development of atherosclerosis in the context of traditional cardiovascular risk factors.

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Pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and its consequences

We aim to unravel the role of the immune system in the development of atherosclerosis in the context of traditional cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, obesity) as well as in the context of novel risk factors, such as physical inactivity, auto-immune diseases, hyperuricemia, gout, and infections.
 

Pathogenesis of genetic, metabolic and endocrine causes of vascular damage

We aim to unravel the pathophysiology and to improve the diagnosis and treatment of adrenal causes of hypertension, especially aldosteronism, pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma, congenital adrenal hyperplasia and hypercortisolism.

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Pathogenesis of genetic, metabolic and endocrine causes of vascular damage

We aim to unravel the pathophysiology and to improve the diagnosis and treatment of adrenal causes of hypertension, especially aldosteronism, pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma, congenital adrenal hyperplasia and hypercortisolism, in order to prevent cardiovascular complications related to these disorders. Furthermore, we investigate metabolic and genetic causes of atherosclerosis, arterial aneurysms and dissections.
 

Personalized diagnostics and treatments of atherosclerosis and its consequences

We aim to optimize personalized cardiovascular risk management based on individualized risk estimation.

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Personalized diagnostics and treatments of atherosclerosis and its consequences

We aim to optimize personalized cardiovascular risk management based on individualized risk estimation (by diagnostic innovations) and to identify new interventions to slow the progression of vascular damage and its consequences.
 

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Agenda

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Organization

Researchers Vascular damage

See the researchers related to this theme.

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Societal impact

Centers of clinical expertise

Information might be only available in Dutch.

Answers in Dutch

Information on our research can also be found in Dutch on the Nationale Wetenschapsagenda website. The information here answers questions asked by Dutch citizens.