From basic mechanisms to clinical applications in heart protection, new players in cardiovascular diseases and cardiac theranostics: meeting report from the third international symposium on "New frontiers in cardiovascular research"

In this meeting report, particularly addressing the topic of protection of the cardiovascular system from ischemia/reperfusion injury, highlights are presented that relate to conditioning strategies of the heart with respect to molecular mechanisms and outcome in patients' cohorts, the influence of co-morbidities and medications, as well as the contribution of innate immune reactions in cardioprotection. Moreover, developmental or systems biology approaches bear great potential in systematically uncovering unexpected components involved in ischemia-reperfusion injury or heart regeneration. Based on the characterization of particular platelet integrins, mitochondrial redox-linked proteins, or lipid-diol compounds in cardiovascular diseases, their targeting by newly developed theranostics and technologies opens new avenues for diagnosis and therapy of myocardial infarction to improve the patients' outcome

Endothelial Alpha-Parvin Controls Integrity of Developing Vasculature and Is Required for Maintenance of Cell-Cell Junctions

Rationale: Angiogenesis and vessel integrity depend on the adhesion of endothelial cells (ECs) to the extracellular matrix and to adjacent ECs. The focal adhesion protein -parvin (-pv) is essential for vascular development. However, the role of -pv in ECs in vivo is not known. Objective: To determine the function of -pv in ECs during vascular development in vivo and the underlying mechanisms. Methods and Results: We deleted the -pv gene specifically in ECs of mice to study its role in angiogenesis and vascular development. Here, we show that endothelial-specific deletion of -pv in mice results in late embryonic lethality associated with hemorrhages and reduced vascular density. Postnatal-induced EC-specific deletion of -pv leads to retinal hypovascularization because of reduced vessel sprouting and excessive vessel regression. In the absence of -pv, blood vessels display impaired VE-cadherin junction morphology. In vitro, -pv-deficient ECs show reduced stable adherens junctions, decreased monolayer formation, and impaired motility, associated with reduced formation of integrin-mediated cell-extracellular matrix adhesion structures and an altered actin cytoskeleton. Conclusions: Endothelial -pv is essential for vessel sprouting and for vessel stabilit

Meeting report from the 2nd International Symposium on New Frontiers in Cardiovascular Research. Protecting the cardiovascular system from ischemia: between bench and bedside

Recent advances in basic cardiovascular research as well as their translation into the clinical situation were the focus at the last “New Frontiers in Cardiovascular Research meeting”. Major topics included the characterization of new targets and procedures in cardioprotection, deciphering new players and inflammatory mechanisms in ischemic heart disease as well as uncovering microRNAs and other biomarkers as versatile and possibly causal factors in cardiovascular pathogenesis. Although a number of pathological situations such as ischemia–reperfusion injury or atherosclerosis can be simulated and manipulated in diverse animal models, also to challenge new drugs for intervention, patient studies are the ultimate litmus test to obtain unequivocal information about the validity of biomedical concepts and their application in the clinics. Thus, the open and bidirectional exchange between bench and bedside is crucial to advance the field of ischemic heart disease with a particular emphasis of understanding long-lasting approaches in cardioprotection