Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases

Metabolic and cardiovascular diseases are leading causes of death nation- and worldwide, imposing an enormous social and economic burden on health services and society at large. Important examples of such diseases include obesity, diabetes and heart failure. Research is especially necessary to elucidate the underlying molecular pathomechanisms of these high-burden diseases, as well as to develop novel therapies and cost-effective treatments, ideally following a personalised, targeted approach. Such an approach would be particularly significant for the management of chronic, most often age-related cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. The clinical management of some of these diseases, like heart attacks, has already improved thanks to advances from the past century (landmark developments of invasive technologies). These developments have resulted in an increased life expectancy, which in turn has led to a higher prevalence of age-related chronic diseases, such as chronic heart failure.

These age-related conditions are characterized by very complex pathomechanisms which involve metabolic and immunological alterations, as well as subcellular, cellular and tissue remodelling, so understanding these mechanisms on a molecular level is of fundamental importance. A better genetic, transcriptomic and molecular characterization of cardiovascular diseases will undoubtedly allow for a deeper insight of these high-burden diseases.