New tools to improve the diagnosis and treatment of early atherosclerosis

Description:

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide, with atherosclerosis (AT) being its main determinant. Currently, AT prevention is based on traditional scores that, however, fail to identify individuals at risk at early stages. The exact prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis is impossible to determine, although it has been estimated in the USA that 50% of men and 64% of women who died of sudden cardiac death did not have a previous manifestation of the disease and most of them were not considered high risk according to the Framingham score.

Subjects that suffer from CV events despite pharmacotherapy or those that are intolerant to it, emphasize the need for alternative treatments to be explored.

CNIC researchers have discovered a metabolite as biomarker to identify individuals at risk at early stages, and the use of antagonist to this metabolite as new tool to improve the treatment of early AT. This treatment will be effective not only for AT, but also for autoinflammatory diseases.