About this Research Topic

Background

Although not well-defined, vascular age is intended to measure tissue functional decline and age-associated disease, morbidity, and mortality, more accurately than the chronological age alone. The multi-dimensional nature of aging and inter-individual variability in the aging process accounts for lack of consensus in measuring biological age and more specifically vascular age. Several molecular pathways have been implicated in vascular aging, including oxidative stress, inflammation, epigenetic regulation, telomere shortening among others.

Aorta-specific DNA methylation profiling, post-translational histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs can be used as potential tools to gain new insights into the pathogenesis of aortopathies and risk stratification. Further, aorta-specific modulation of chromatin with an efficient and specific delivery system as well as reprograming of a pathologic epigenetic landscape can serve as a potential therapeutic target, when approaching arterial aging.

Current guidelines for patients with aortic disease are predominantly based on expert opinion and data from observational studies, large registries, and prospective studies. There is need for robust evidence supporting personalized prevention, surveillance, and management in individuals of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds. This Research Topic aims to publish high-quality research in the Cardio-Genomics space with an emphasis on the genetic basis and architecture of syndromic and non-syndromic aortic disease.

We welcome original research, review article, systematic review, meta-analysis, clinical case studies and new ideas related, but not limited, to the following topics:
•Genetic and epigenetic mechanisms Involved in aortic disease
•Role of epigenetic modifications in aortic disease
•Research related to genetic basis and architecture of syndromic and non-syndromic aortic disease
•Research focusing on genetic markers through genome-wide association studies, phenome-wide association studies, exome and genome data, and epigenetic factors.
•Cardio-genomics studies conducted on human subjects, laboratory animals, in vitro, and in silico

Keywords: Aortic Disease, Vascular Aging, Epigenetic Modification, Cardio-Genomics

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