Plasma biomarkers for endothelial dysfunction

Endothelial cells (EC), which line the inside of all blood vessels, are key for vascular health as they regulate haemostasis, provide an anti-thrombotic surface, control inflammation, vascular tone, angiogenesis and the transport of molecules and nutrients to and from the blood stream. Disruption in this normal function is termed ´EC dysfunction´, which is linked to thrombosis formation, uncontrolled leukocyte recruitment and platelet activation, inappropriate vasoconstriction and impaired recovery from injury. Exposure to CVD risk factors, such as smoking, obesity, hypertension, modified blood lipid profile or diabetes can induce such changes, through the effects of chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, local hypoxia and disruption in laminar flow.

Currently, we lack clinical tools for the assessment of vascular health for risk profiling and monitoring of response following intervention to improve EC function.

In this project, we used affinity plasma proteomics to measure levels of proteins that we previously identified as having a high level of EC-specific expression across human vascular beds (see project ´Endothelial enriched genes´) in samples collected as part of the population-based study, the Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Study (SCAPIS) pilot. We identified a panel of proteins which could be used to assess cardiovascular risk. Now we plan to expand this analysis to screen larger populations, and replication cohorts.

Associated pre-print:

Iglesias MJ, Kruse LD, Sanchez-Rivera L, Enge L, Dusart P, Hong MG, Uhlén M, Renné T, Schwenk JM, Bergstrom G, Odeberg J, Butler LM (2021) Identification of endothelial-derived proteins in plasma associated with cardiovascular risk factors.