A team of researchers from the UConn Health noted, in recent research,
than protein TRPM2 is linked to the function of macrophages that move inside our arteries to free them of fat, eating it. Unfortunately, however, fat-filled macrophages risk causing obstruction of the artery that they should have cleared of fat accumulations.
The results of the Research have been published in the scientific journal Nature Cardiovascular Research.
TRPM2: here’s how it works and why it could become dangerous
When we talk about macrophages, we mean large white blood cells that travel inside our body to free it from dangerous debris.. Under certain conditions, however, this function can become dangerous because the excessive removal of fat causes them to become spongy. Once this new shape is assumed, they stimulate inflammation and sometimes break the plaques, releasing blood clots in the arteries. These clots are especially dangerous because they can cause heart attack, stroke or embolisms.
It is in this phase of inflammation that the TRPM2 protein comes into play, activated by the inflammation itself. The protein signals macrophages to ingest fat, causing them to become foamy and thereby aggravating inflammation.
“The way TRPM2 activated macrophage activity was amazing“, He dichiy Lixia Yue, cell biologist of the UConn School of Medicine: “They form a vicious circle that promotes the development of atherosclerosis“. Eliminating the protein could be the solution to breaking this vicious circle.
Yue and Pengyu Zongdoctor and first author of the article, have shown a way to stop periods, at least in mice. They eliminated TRPM2 from a type of lab mouse that tends to have atherosclerosis. Eliminating that protein did not appear to harm the mice and prevented the macrophages from becoming foamy. It also relieved atherosclerosis in animals.
Yue and Pengyu Zong and the rest of the team carefully studied whether the increased expression of TRPM2 in monocytes (macrophage precursors) in the blood is related to the severity of cardiovascular disease in humans. If they find a correlation exists, high levels of TRPM2 could be a risk marker for heart attack and stroke.
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ACD) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Publicly available information from the Global Burden of Disease Study was studied for ischemic heart disease (IHD) and ischemic stroke. Data from the WHO Global Health Observatory were used to describe the prevalence of several cardiometabolic risk factors. The World Bank’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) information was used to rank countries by income level.
Income affects the incidence of atherosclerosis around the world. Indeed, it has been shown that higher-income countries have higher rates of developing certain diseases than those of lower-income countries. High levels of body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol are basic conditions that affect mortality by income group over time.
High-income countries have been able to reduce the incidence of these risk factors over the past 20 years, while low- / middle-income countries show an increasing trend in mortality attributable to high BMI and glucose. Although trends in the morality rate measured by age have declined globally, the absolute number of deaths is increasing in part due to population growth and aging, as well as major lifestyle and food system changes that are likely to mitigate the gains in prevention.
In Italy it is estimated that 44% of deaths are attributable to cardiovascular diseases, in particular 30% are due to myocardial infarction and 31% to stroke. Both diseases are associated with atherosclerosis. In Italy 3 million people are affected by cardiovascular disease: an estimated 200,000 new cases of myocardial infarction per year, of which 36,000 are fatal, 50,000 deaths / year due to sudden death and 130,000 new cases of stroke per year, of which 60,000 are cause of death.
It is important to underline that in recent decades, thanks to prevention programs and the development of lipid-lowering, antithrombotic and thrombolytic therapies, there has been a reduction in deaths and disabilities deriving from atherosclerosis.
Numerous factors have been identified that increase the risk related to the development of atherosclerosis.
• The age: the atherosclerotic pathological process becomes clinically evident in old age.
• Kind: atherosclerosis mainly affects the male sex; women are affected to a lesser extent and mainly after menopause.
• Familiarity: there is a greater risk of atherosclerotic lesions if you have close relatives who have experienced the complications of atherosclerotic disease at a young age (in males <55 years, in females <65 years).
• Smoke: among heavy smokers (more than 15 cigarettes per day) between the ages of 45 and 54, the risk of dying from coronary heart disease was rated three times higher than in non-smokers.
• Alcohol.
• Incorrect feeding: diet rich in fats, especially of animal origin.
• Sedentary life: poor physical activity.
• Hypercholesterolemia: in particular high levels of low density lipoproteins (LDL), low levels of high density lipoproteins (HDL) and LDL / HDL ratio> 3.
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