According to the WHO, the number of deaths associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) reached 17.9 million in 2019, around one-third of total deaths, signifying that CVDs are still considered the leading cause of death world-wide. These trends in mortality reflect the shortcomings in the diagnosis and management of CVDs, including i) the lack of good biomarkers for the detection and early diagnosis of CVDs; ii) poor knowledge of the underlying molecular mechanisms involved in the onset and progression of CVDs and iii) scarcity of innovation in therapeutic tools, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostics.
Not only is early diagnosis of CVDs extremely challenging, but limitations of proper treatment options with currently available drugs only mitigate the symptoms with a high level of side effects. Thus, in the field of CVD, precision medicine relying on the integration of clinical and basic translational research is needed for treatment advancement.
Cardiovascular diseases are a heterogeneous group of diseases that result from genetic or causal factors: as such, the precise molecular mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of the disease still remain largely unknown, resulting in severe shortcomings in diagnosis and treatment options. Molecular mechanisms underlying CVDs include perturbations of cell metabolism, inflammation and aberrant function of the different cell types that compose the heart and large vessels. Over the last several years, an array of epigenetic mechanisms, spanning from histone modifications to ncRNA modulation, have been implicated in the onset and progression of CVD. This suggests that epigenetic markers could be exploited and harnessed therapeutically. However, since epigenetic enzymes are ubiquitously expressed, such epi-drugs can have detrimental side effects. Recent advances in nanomedicine have demonstrated the potential of cell- and tissue-specific targeting, providing a novel therapeutic strategy for epigenetic drug delivery. In addition, great advances have been recently made in the field of therapeutic genome-editing with CRISPR/Cas technology, thus providing additional tools to tackle genetic and epigenetic causes of CVDs. Furthermore, computational research can be exploited to improve speed and success rate of cardiovascular research, investigating big datasets and predicting possible cellular, metabolic and epigenetic network interactions.
The scope of this Research Topic is to expand knowledge and insights regarding new therapeutic strategies for diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. We aim to collect a comprehensive compilation of research articles, reviews and protocols addressing novel molecular and physiological mechanisms involved in cellular, epigenetic, metabolic, and inflammatory pathways in the heart and vasculature, novel potential biomarkers for early diagnosis and novel therapeutic targeting of cardiovascular diseases, exploiting current knowledge of non-coding RNAs, nanotechnology, and epigenetic drug targeting. Contributions are welcome on multidisciplinary techniques that represent an integrative approach for treatment of cardiovascular disorders.
According to the WHO, the number of deaths associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) reached 17.9 million in 2019, around one-third of total deaths, signifying that CVDs are still considered the leading cause of death world-wide. These trends in mortality reflect the shortcomings in the diagnosis and management of CVDs, including i) the lack of good biomarkers for the detection and early diagnosis of CVDs; ii) poor knowledge of the underlying molecular mechanisms involved in the onset and progression of CVDs and iii) scarcity of innovation in therapeutic tools, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostics.
Not only is early diagnosis of CVDs extremely challenging, but limitations of proper treatment options with currently available drugs only mitigate the symptoms with a high level of side effects. Thus, in the field of CVD, precision medicine relying on the integration of clinical and basic translational research is needed for treatment advancement.
Cardiovascular diseases are a heterogeneous group of diseases that result from genetic or causal factors: as such, the precise molecular mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of the disease still remain largely unknown, resulting in severe shortcomings in diagnosis and treatment options. Molecular mechanisms underlying CVDs include perturbations of cell metabolism, inflammation and aberrant function of the different cell types that compose the heart and large vessels. Over the last several years, an array of epigenetic mechanisms, spanning from histone modifications to ncRNA modulation, have been implicated in the onset and progression of CVD. This suggests that epigenetic markers could be exploited and harnessed therapeutically. However, since epigenetic enzymes are ubiquitously expressed, such epi-drugs can have detrimental side effects. Recent advances in nanomedicine have demonstrated the potential of cell- and tissue-specific targeting, providing a novel therapeutic strategy for epigenetic drug delivery. In addition, great advances have been recently made in the field of therapeutic genome-editing with CRISPR/Cas technology, thus providing additional tools to tackle genetic and epigenetic causes of CVDs. Furthermore, computational research can be exploited to improve speed and success rate of cardiovascular research, investigating big datasets and predicting possible cellular, metabolic and epigenetic network interactions.
The scope of this Research Topic is to expand knowledge and insights regarding new therapeutic strategies for diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. We aim to collect a comprehensive compilation of research articles, reviews and protocols addressing novel molecular and physiological mechanisms involved in cellular, epigenetic, metabolic, and inflammatory pathways in the heart and vasculature, novel potential biomarkers for early diagnosis and novel therapeutic targeting of cardiovascular diseases, exploiting current knowledge of non-coding RNAs, nanotechnology, and epigenetic drug targeting. Contributions are welcome on multidisciplinary techniques that represent an integrative approach for treatment of cardiovascular disorders.