Cardiovascular diseases are a significant cause of death worldwide, half of which are caused by ischemic heart diseases (IHD). Ischemic heart diseases encompasses a wide spectrum of diseases, all characterized by reduced blood flow to the heart muscle due to narrowed coronary arteries. In the early stages, atherosclerosis is often present, which can later develop towards a myocardial infarction and even heart failure. The immune response plays a crucial role in the ischemic heart diseases spectrum, for example, by clearing dead cells after an infarction. However, this inflammatory response often escalates, leading to fibrosis of the heart muscle, impairing its function (heart failure). Therefore, the immune system presents an interesting target for new drugs to treat ischemic heart diseases. Although sometimes effective, so far, these new drugs often come with serious side effects.
Therefore, the aim of Irene van Blokland’s thesis is to study the role of individual immune cells in the context of the ischemic heart diseases disease spectrum to find more targeted and safer drugs. Part I focuses on the more general (sex-specific) changes in the composition of immune cells in the blood. Part II then concentrates on more detailed changes in both the composition of immune cells and their gene activity. In doing so, we also considered the hereditary differences between patients. All of this showed that it is important to consider both the hereditary differences between patients and the patient’s disease stage when finding new effective treatments.
