Cytokine expression in coronary artery disease : high sensitivity detection in a patient cohort and analysis of its effect on cardiac myoblast cells in an in vitro model

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease has evolved into one of the major causes of death in the developed world. Common clinical presentations of the disease are Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS), Heart Failure, Carotid disease, Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA) and Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD). The predominant pathological process that is involved in these presentations is Atherosclerosis, a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by fibro-fatty plaques within the blood vessels. In this work I sought to investigate the role of inflammatory molecules, termed cytokines in atherosclerotic disease and their impact on potential future treatments. This was done via patient based studies and in vitro modelling.