Tag: cardiovascular disease

Research

The big C: cancer vs cardiovascular disease – the importance of translational medicine

by Beth Webb Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease Cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD) are the two-leading causes of death worldwide. However, survival rates for both diseases are higher than ever suggesting that people are more likely to suffer from both cancer and CVD in their lifetime. CVD includes all heart and circulatory diseases such as; coronary heart disease, angina, heart attack, congenital heart disease, hypertension, stroke, … Continue reading The big C: cancer vs cardiovascular disease – the importance of translational medicine

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Research

Let the Trojan vesicles in

By Paulo Szwarc, Federal University of Paraná, Brazil

Cancer sure is tricky. We try to starve it, cut it, stress it out of our bodies. We even bombard it with radiation until it dies. And yet, not due to lack of trying, many times we lose the fight. It escapes, evades our resistance. Its overly mutational nature leads it to adapt, dodging the deadly effects of chemotherapeutics. Not only that, but the lack of selectivity in many treatments means that while we harm the tumour, we also wreak havoc to our own healthy cells. It makes the battle much harder.

Continue reading Let the Trojan vesicles in

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Journal content, Research

Blood vessel growth and metabolic stress

By Sayan Chakraborty, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A-STAR, Singapore

In our hectic modern lifestyle, we are constantly subjected to stress of many kinds including the stress experienced by our body from weight-gain. From the physiological perspective, these symptoms are managed by signalling molecules present in the body that control energy expenditure and form new blood vessels (angiogenesis) to cope with increased ‘cellular stress’ levels. These physiological consequences can be precursors to conditions such as type 2 diabetes, one symptom of which is increased angiogenesis.

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Proliferative retinopathy, an advanced form of diabetic retinopathy, occurs when abnormal new blood vessels and scar tissue form on the surface of the retina. (Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, USA) Continue reading “Blood vessel growth and metabolic stress”

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