CNIC Conference “Understanding Immunity in Cardiovascular Disease”
In recent years, we have observed how important the role of the immune system is in the development, structure and function of the cardiovascular system, which opens up new treatment possibilities that were unknown of up until now.
The objective of the CNIC Conference ‘Understanding Immunity in Cardiovascular Disease’, which brought together the leading experts in the field of immunology and cardiovascular disease in Madrid, is to promote state-of-the-art science in the fields of immunology, vascular biology and cardiology. All the participants of this event were given the opportunity to learn how immune cell dysregulation affects the cardiovascular system, as well as its role in the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases, like atherosclerosis, heart failure and inflammatory cardiomyopathies.
The deregulation or alteration of the normal control of cellular processes of the immune system is key in atherosclerosis and other cardiac pathologies, like inflammatory cardiomyopathies or myocardial infarctions, which are normally associated to an immune response to repair damage or fight against infection. However, an exaggerated inflammatory response or an autoimmune response against cardiac or vascular tissue can result in mid or long-term damage. Understanding how these processes work and intervening using the tools that immunotherapy offers us can improve the life expectancy and quality of life in these patients.
During the CNIC Conference, organized by researchers Almudena Ramiro, David Sancho, and Pilar Martín from CNIC; Andrés Hidalgo from Yale University; and Klaus Ley from Augusta University, recent advances in these crucial areas were presented:
- Regulation of the immune response in heart repair.
- Mechanisms that control cardiovascular inflammation.
- Autoimmunity in heart disease.
- New mechanisms of inflammatory cardiomyopathies.
- Immune responses in atherosclerosis.
- Immune cell-cell interactions in cardiovascular diseases.
